University MEXT Scholarship: Eligibility

While most MEXT scholarship eligibility criteria are merely poorly translated, the minimum GPA requirement (exlained below) is impossible to define in a universally applicable way. At least I will explain how to manually convert your grades to the MEXT system, below.

Important Update: There have been some minor changes to the eligibility criteria effective in 2018 – specifically to the parts about your academic background. There are a few key clarifications about residence in Japan, language proficiency, and how to evaluate applicants who have no grades, as well. I have summed up these changes in a new article about the 2018 University-Recommended MEXT Scholarship. However, the rest of the details below still apply, so you should certainly review them carefully!

Every year, hundreds of applicants spends time and money applying for the MEXT Scholarship without ever realizing that they are not even eligible.

The problem is that there are two sets of eligibility criteria. The eligibility criteria that most universities list on their MEXT scholarship application guidelines are not the full set- they’re missing the criterion that knocks out more students than any other. Fortunately, I have it translated below, along with everything else you need to know to make sure your application is going to be valid.

Why Have 2 Sets of Eligibility Criteria?

If you want to know more about the eligibility criteria, plus advice on creating an application strategy and adopting a successful applicant mindset, my ebook How to Apply for the MEXT Scholarship has in-depth discussions and further advice!

It has to do with administrative processing of your application. If you’re ineligible then your application is not accepted and that means the university has to:

Explain why you’re ineligible

Return your application documents to you (at your expense)

If you’re application is accepted but not successful, then the university doesn’t have to explain or return a thing. Which, given how many ineligible applicants there are each year, saves universities quite a bit of trouble.

Frankly, the eligibility criteria that catches most students – grades – is so difficult to explain universally that even if it was made public, there would be a ton of ineligible applicants anyway. I’m still going to try, so bear with me.

MEXT Scholarship Eligibility: Stage 1

These are the eligibility criteria that you will find on Monbukagakusho’s “application guidelines” web page as well as university websites. They’re not always clear, so I’ll explain the tricker ones below.

Target:

Excellent* applicants who newly arrive from overseas for the purpose of graduate-level studies.

Let’s break this into two pieces:

Excellent*: The asterisk goes to a footnote explaining: *Applicants who have a 2.3 GPA over the past two years of studies and are assumed to be able to maintain the same performance throughout the scholarship.

The problem is that this is 2.3 out of 3.0 on MEXT’s converted scale, so we can’t take this at face value. Because this is the single most significant obstacle, I have included a whole section on it farther down the article, so keep reading!

Newly arrive from overseas for the purpose of graduate study: This means that you must not be residing in Japan immediately prior to the scholarship period and you must arrive on a Student Visa. Again, there are a lot of ways to interpret this, and MEXT has hammered out most of the loopholes, so I will explain it in detail below.

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Nationality:

Must have the nationality of a country that has relations with Japan. In principle, applicants with Japanese nationality are not eligible. However, a person who lives overseas and holds Japanese nationality as a dual national who then gives up his or her Japanese nationality prior to the start of the scholarship will be eligible.

I used to get a lot of applicants who were worried about whether their country had relations with Japan. In most cases, the answer is yes. The most notable country that does not meet this criteria is Taiwan. Otherwise, if you’re from a country that isn’t universally recognized as a country (e.g. Republic of Abkhazia, State of Palestine), you probably know it.

Age:

Must have been born no earlier than April 2, 1981 (for the 2016 scholarship). This condition does not apply to previous Young Leaders Program scholars who are applying for admission to a PhD program.

Basically, you must be younger than 35 as of April 1 in the year that you start your scholarship. Japan considers you an investment and wants applicants that have more years to contribute to the country.

Academic Background:

A person who has graduated from a Japanese university or who is judged to have an equal or higher level of education to a graduate of a Japanese university, as follows:

A person who has completed 16 years of study (18 in the case of medical, dental, or pharmaceutical studies which have a 6-year undergraduate program and who wish to proceed to a doctoral degree). Applicants whose degree is in progress and will be completed prior to the start of the scholarship are eligible.

A person aged 22 or older (24 in the case of medical, dental, and pharmaceutical applicants as listed above), who has passed an individual review of qualifications by the graduate school to which they applied and has been determined to have equal education to a Japanese university graduate. Applicants who are in the process of acquiring this status and who will acquire it prior to the start of the scholarship are eligible.

*Applicants who have completed a PhD program and are applying for an additional degree are unable to apply in principle.

A note about calculating your age: MEXT figures your age as of April 2 in the year you plan to start the scholarship (since that is when the Japanese school year begins), so if you’re trying to meet criteria 2 above and you turn 22 on April 3, then you’re not eligible this year.

OK, this one throws a lot of people, too. There used to be a long list of alternate qualifications that were considered equal to a Japanese university degree, but most of them were frankly irrelevant. In my time, I saw two common exceptions to the 16 years of education, and almost all were approved, as long as they contacted the university in advance.

Students who came from a country with a 15-year program of education that included a 3-year bachelor’s degree. This used to be a specific exception, though I don’t see it listed in the 2015 guidelines, so it may have been lumped in with the next category.

Students from countries with less than a 16-year program of education that included a 4-year bachelor’s degree, or less than 15 years.

In both cases above, we would have students submit their transcripts, proof of degree awarded, passport (to check their age), and an explanation of the academic systems of their home countries, preferably countersigned by an academic advisor.

Skipped a grade? The length of your education program is judged by the length prescribed by your national education ministry, not by how long you took to complete it. If you skipped grades, you’re still considered to have completed the full 16 years, or whatever it is. (There will be space to explain this on the application form later).

If you have any questions about whether you would be eligible because of your academic background, you should contact the university as soon as they release their application guidelines!

Field of Study

Must be the field you studied in university previously or a related field. Must be available for study at the university you are applying to.

I did see applicants every year who wanted to study a different field from what they had done previously. If this is you, then you must make it very clear in your “Field of Study and Study Plan” document how your graduate studies will be related to what you’ve done before.

Japanese Language Ability

Applicants in fields that require high levels of Japanese language ability (e.g. Japanese Linguistics, Japanese Literature, Japanese History, Japanese Law, etc.) will not be awarded the scholarship if their language ability is insufficient.

I did actually see the occasional student try to apply for Japanese linguistics with an N2 JLPT. Not going to happen. Any field that would conceivably require most research to be done in Japanese is going to require an N1.

Health

Must have no physical or mental health conditions that would interfere with graduate-level studies.

The biggest concern here, in my experience, was the tuberculosis chest x-ray. You need to have the date the x-ray was taken as well as the x-ray film reference number. In Japan, each x-ray has a reference label so that the doctor can look it up again. They expect other countries to work the same way. This confused a lot of applicants so I’m going to clarify: do not send the actual x-ray film. Just the reference (even if it’s just your last name and the date) will do.

Time of Arrival in Japan

In principle, students must be able to leave their home countries and arrive in Japan on the date specified by the university, up to two week before the semester starts. (Should be September or October, in general, excepting students who start in the April semester.)

The purpose of this criteria is to ensure that you have no legal restrictions preventing you from leaving your home country (e.g. you’re not in jail or hospitalized) and nothing preventing you from arriving in Japan (e.g. you have not been deported from Japan in the past).

Visa Acquisition

In principle, applicants must acquire a Student Visa before arriving in Japan and arrive in the country with a Student Residence Status. Students who change to any other residence status during their time in Japan will immediately lose their eligibility to continue receiving the scholarship.

MEXT is going to help you apply for the visa after you’re accepted, so don’t worry about that. The thing to note here is to arrive on a “Student” visa – not a “Tourist” or anything else – and to keep that status throughout your time in Japan.

In Japan, a “visa” is the document that you use to enter the country. Once you’re in Japan, you no longer have a “visa,” you have a “residence status,” which is what permits you to stay in the country.

Disqualification Criteria

Meeting any of the criteria below will disqualify you from the application process. Further, if it is discovered after the fact that you were ineligible, your scholarship will be withdrawn as if you voluntarily canceled the scholarship.

Military Affiliation

Anyone who is a member of the military or a military-status civilian at the time of arriving in Japan is ineligible.

Arrival Date

Anyone unable to arrive on the university-designated arrival date is ineligible

Previous MEXT Scholarship Receipt

Anyone who has received a Japanese government (Monbukagakusho / MEXT) Scholarship in the past is not eligible to receive the scholarship again until they have completed three years of education or research after the end of the previous scholarship award. This condition does not apply to previous short-term scholarship recipients under the following categories who graduated from their home institutions after scholarship receipt: Japanese Language and Culture Scholarship, Japan-Korea Joint Science and Engineering Scholarship, Young Leaders Program.

By “education or research,” this criteria essentially means that you must have completed a full three years of enrollment in a university after your last scholarship ended and before the next one begins. It might also be possible if you have been employed by a university as a researcher for that amount of time.They are very strict about this, so 2 years and 11 months is not going to be enough!

Simultaneous Application to Multiple Universities

If you apply to multiple universities under the University-recommended MEXT scholarship and/or JASSO scholarship in the same year, or if you are currently receiving a MEXT or JASSO scholarship and will continue to receive it as of the month that your University-recommended MEXT scholarship is to begin.

Furthermore, if you apply to two universities and both recommend you for the scholarship, MEXT will not only cancel your scholarship, but may also rule all nominees from both universities ineligible! It is OK to apply to other universities as a fee-paying student, or under another scholarship scheme, just as the ADB or Joint Japan-World Bank Graduate Scholarship, but don’t try to mess with MEXT.

Failure to Acquire Required Prerequisite Degree

Anyone who fails to acquire an expected degree or qualification that was a prerequisite to scholarship selection will have their scholarship revoked.

As mentioned above, you can apply to MEXT before graduating from your previous degree, as long as your graduation is anticipated to occur before you start your MEXT scholarship. For example, you can apply for a Master’s scholarship beginning in Oct 2016 if you are currently enrolled in a Bachelor’s degree program and will graduate before your Master’s program starts. In this case, you will have to present proof of graduation after arriving in Japan.

Japanese Dual-Nationals Who Fail to Relinquish Japanese Citizenship

If you applied as a dual national (Japan plus something else), you are required to relinquish your Japanese citizenship before starting the scholarship. If you are a dual-national (or more) and none of your nationalities is Japanese, then don’t worry – this doesn’t apply to you.

Persons Who Intend to Study Outside Japan

As this is a scholarship for research at a Japanese university, anyone who desires to conduct fieldwork or an internship outside of Japan during the scholarship period will not be awarded the scholarship.

Do not apply for the MEXT scholarship if you don’t intend to study in Japan! In fact, being outside the country for an entire calendar month at any time during the scholarship will result in your losing the scholarship stipend for that month. Three consecutive months of missing your stipend will result in the scholarship being canceled. If you apply for the MEXT scholarship, be prepared to stay in Japan throughout the award period.

MEXT Scholarship Eligibility: Stage 2

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There are two eligibility criteria above that are not explained in detail in the application guidelines: the non-residence criteria and the GPA calculation. Additionally, a third eligibility criteria that relates to your field of study appears nowhere in the call for applications.

Since each of these three criteria require that the university accept your application and begin reviewing it, they are not considered application eligibility criteria. They are recommendation eligibility requirements. This means that the university accepts your application (they don’t need to return it to you), but ultimately denies your application (they don’t need to explain why).

Neat, if you’re the university. Not so good if you’re one of the hundred applicants who never knew they didn’t have a chance. Well, now you’ll know exactly what the university is looking for:

Residence in Japan

The phrase used in the eligibility criteria is often translated as “newly arrive in Japan for the purpose of study.” This is more confusing than helpful. Here is what it really means:

You must be living outside Japan prior to the start of your scholarship. Universities will prefer for you to be outside of Japan for at least the 6 months before beginning your scholarship/studies.

You must apply for a student visa from your home country and use that visa to come to Japan. There is a special student visa application process for MEXT scholars. You cannot change residence status in Japan. This has to be an entirely new arrival.

That’s it. Don’t worry if you don’t know what I mean by “residence status.” If you don’t understand it, then you’re probably not residing in Japan, and none of this applies to you!

Frequently Asked Questions About “Newly Arrived”

You are eligible for the scholarship if:

You visited Japan in the past as a tourist

You studied in Japan before and have since gone home.

You lived in Japan in the past on any other residence status and have since gone home.

You are studying in Japan at the time of application but will finish your degree in March, go home, then return anew in September or October to start your scholarship.

You are living in Japan at the time of application for any other reason, but you have already and irrevocably planned to return to your home country no later than 6 months before starting the scholarship.

If you are living in Japan and plan to leave the country if you receive the scholarship and only to meet the eligibility criteria of the scholarship, then you are not eligible. That is why universities will want to see an explanation or proof that you will return to your home country regardless of the application process outcome.

A Side Note: You Are Not a Special Case

If your situation is in the gray area in any way, expect Japanese universities to blow you off. If you want special treatment or an exception, it’s not worth their while to accommodate you, they will just shift their attention to a less troublesome applicant.

You may, in fact, be brilliant and promising, but if you cannot follow directions or rules, than universities – and especially the admin staff that handle applications – will want nothing to do with you.

Of course, if you’ve read this far down this article, chances are pretty good, that’s not a problem for you! Let’s move on.

Grades – The Silent Killer of Dreams

Probably half the applicants I saw were never eligible for the scholarship because their grades were too low. But they never knew it.

Applicants would contact me every year to ask if there was a minimum grade to apply, but I could never answer them. So here it is:

Yes, there is a minimum. No, I can’t tell you if you meet it. But you can figure it out yourself.

The minimum GPA is 2.3 on a scale of 3.0. What university uses a 3.0 scale? None that I know of, even in Japan. On the university side, we had to convert every single applicants grades or marks from their home country scale to MEXT’s 3.0 scale, manually, using the system below.

Rules for the GPA Calculation

The University is going to do the calculation for you, but if you are at all concerned about your grades, then you can do it on your own, first, to see if you have a chance. Note, however, that if your calculation does not match the university’s, they are going to stick with their numbers. They have a lot more practice doing this (hundred of times each year) and as I mentioned above, there is no special treatment.

GPA should be determined based on the last 2 years of grades earned.

Grades such as “pass” and “approved” are not considered toward the calculation. (However, “Fail” in a pass/fail situation would be considered, as universities consider that equal to a fail in a graded course).

When calculating grades, consider only grades acquired in degree-seeking programs. Grades earned as a non-degree seeking student, at a Japanese language school, or in other non-degree programs do not count toward the calculation.

Grades should be calculated per academic year and in-progress years should not be counted. However, if grades are awarded on a semester basis and grades for the first semester of a year are available, then that semester should be included and that semester counts toward the two full years.

In the event that a student changed programs within the past two years (e.g. proceeded from a bachelor’s to master’s degree program) and the most recent program is graded in semesters, with an odd number of semesters’ grades available, and the preceding program was graded in full years, then 2.5 years of grades should be calculated to meet the minimum of 2 years.

In the event that a student transferred to a new program at the same level (e.g. transfer admission, dual degree program), then only grades earned after the transfer will be considered. However, grades earned before the transfer must be calculated and entered in the notes section of the recommendation.

In the event that a grade calculation is not possible, then the university must explain what objective evidence it used to determine that the applicant’s academic performance was equal to or greater than a 2.3/3.0 GPA. Concrete evidence is required. An explanation such as “the applicant conducted outstanding research” will not be accepted. (Editorializing: Forms of concrete evidence could include a statement of order of merit within the student’s class. Proof of peer-reviewed academic publications during the past two years, or significant academic/research based awards earned in the past two years.)

The Grade Conversion Chart

To get your GPA on a 3.0 scale, you have to convert each individual course according to the chart below. Even if your university considers only your overall average marks, or a similar system, that does not matter here. Japan does not care about your system.

To determine how many distinct grading levels, or “grading buckets” your system has, you will need an “explanation of the grading system” (or marking system) from your university. In many cases, this is printed right on the transcript. If not, you will need to get one – it’s going to be required for your application, anyway.

If you don’t know what I mean by an explanation of the grading system, search wikipedia for “[your country name] grading system.” Yeah, wikipedia. It does a pretty good and accurate job of explaining this, in general.

System

Grades

4-Level System

Excellent

Good

Average

Fail

4-Level System

A

B

C

F

4-Level System

100 – 80

79 – 70

69 – 60

59 – 0

All other grading systems with 4 distinct grading buckets will use this system

5-Level System

S

A

B

C

F

5-Level System

A

B

C

D

F

5-Level System

100 – 90

89 – 80

79 – 70

69 – 60

59 – 0

All other grading systems with 5 distinct grading buckets will use this system

MEXT System Grade

3

3

2

1

0

Subgrades: Pluses and minuses do not matter. If you have a system that goes A, A/B, B, BC, etc., assume that the university is going to calculate an “A/B” as a “B” and do your math that way, just to be safe.

Average Marks System: Even if your university uses the system of determining your overall grade by adding your total earned marks and dividing by the total available marks, as is common for the “First Class,” “Upper Second Class,” etc. System, you still need to convert each individual course by its individual percentage. This can make a significant difference in your grade, so be careful with the math!Also, in this system, a course with 200 available marks would be considered 2 credits for the next step, while a course with 100 available marks would be considered 1 credit.

OK, use the chart to convert each grade for each course for the past two years (four semesters). Now, if your university uses a credit system (e.g. some courses are worth 1 credit, some are worth 3, etc.), then multiply each converted grade by the number of credits. If your university does not use credits, then you can skip this step. Less math!

Add all of the totals together then divide by the total number of credits. Drop everything after the second decimal place. Do not round. A 2.299 is a 2.29 (ineligible), not a 2.30 (eligible).

As a final note, I should caution that while a 2.30 is eligible, it is hardly competitive. So, if you’re closer to 2.30 than you are to 3.00, it’s going to be very, very important to have an amazing Field of Study and Study Plan to balance that out and earn the scholarship.

Field of Study

Any applicant whose field of study could be related to military applications (i.e. dual-use technology), such as weapons production or military technology development cannot be recommended for the scholarship. This prohibition extends to applicants who are or have been affiliated with military technology development in the past, as well.

That’s It!

If you’ve followed along this far then, as we say in Japan, Otsukaresama desu! I sincerely hope that you still find yourself eligible for the scholarship.

Want to know more?

My new ebook, How to Apply for the MEXT Scholarship describes the scholarship in detail, including the the eligibility criteria, purpose and coverage, how to develop a successful applicant mindset, and how to craft your application strategy for the greatest chance of success!

Questions?

Before asking any questions in the comments below, please read through the MEXT Scholarship Application FAQ top page and specific FAQ pages to see what I’ve answered already and to find tips about how to get your questions answered faster.

You can ask your questions in the comments here, on the FAQ page, or by email and I will answer them by updating the FAQ and letting you know when the answers are available.

I’d also recommend signing up for my mailing list to get notified whenever I have updates to any of the FAQs or new articles about the MEXT scholarship!

If you did, you would know that you cannot simply convert a CGPA from one system to the other, and you would also know exactly how to calculate the GPA conversion yourself for your case. If you haven’t read it, please go do that now!

Hi i have completed my Master degree from India with 8.67 out of 10 as well as my grading system was based on relative marking.However,now how can a university will convert my grading system into MEXT grading?If they do ,what will be the my grading in case ?Plz clarify.

Hi! First of all, thank you very much for your information. Furthermore, I would like to ask something about the GPA calculation.

I took the integrated bachelor-master program in my university. With this program, I only took 1 year for my master’s degree. If i would like to apply for the doctoral degree with MEXT, how will they calculate my GPA? (Since you said they counts 2 academic years’ GPA)

In that case, they would count the two semesters of your Master’s degree (provided that your grades for both are available at the time of application) as well as your grades from the final year of your bachelor’s degree. (You would have to submit both transcripts).

Hello, first of thank you very much for spending your time to write so detailed information, Most useful article out of all I have seen so far!

I am planning to apply for MEXT 2020, but I have 2 main concerns, and I hope you can help me to clarify some information.
1. Home country. I work and live abroad for the past 6 years. Can I apply for MEXT through the embassy that not in my home country? (I am from Kazakhstan, currently live and work in Cambodia)
2. I graduated in 2012, am I still eligible to apply? Can I use my work experience as a reason (and reference) for my research plan in addition to my Bachelor degree?

PS I have a few non-degree certificates (online) should I attach them to my application?

Thank you for your kind words.
1. If you plan to apply for the Embassy-recommended scholarship, you would have to apply from Kazakhstan. The Embassy in Cambodia will only accept applications from Cambodian nationals. However, if you apply for the University-recommended scholarship (*applications may still be open for 2019), then you can apply from anywhere in the world.
2. As long as you meet the age requirements, you can apply. There is no requirement about years since graduation. Your application will still need to be based on your undergraduate degree (e.g. your Letter of Recommendation and other documents would have to come from that university and your field of study in Japan would need to be related to your undergraduate major), but you could also reference the work you have done since.

Regarding your other certificates, if they are relevant to your application and field of study, then sure!

Hi,
I’m from Pakistan, and currently in my final year of Bachelor degree. I will be graduating in June 2019. I want to know can i apply for University recommendation MEXT Scholarship? and second what is the deadline for applying?

Hello Transenz,
I cannot explain in words how helpful and detailed your posts are for students who plan to apply for MEXT scholarships and I really appreciate you answering to all our queries and problems. Thank you!!
I am planning on applying for the MEXT 2020 so I have a lot to prepare for especially with the research papers. (which I am pretty sure is going to be tough) but your other posts on research guidelines were a blessing, so I hopefully will be able to come up with something good.
Will definitely be back if i hit a wall or something during the application process next year >_<.
Thanks a lot for all your hard work so far.

Thank you for your kind words!
I’m working on Book 2 in my Mastering the MEXT Scholarship series now, which is all about the Field of Study and Research Program Plan. That is certainly the toughest part of the application. In addition to the book, I will be writing new articles for the site based on my research, as well, to cover some of the same topics, so I hope that as you move forward with the application, those will be helpful for you!

I have an updated article specifically about calculating your GPA for the MEXT Scholarship that might be of interest to you.
In general, you would ignore pluses and minuses, though there are special cases if, for example, the back you your transcript mentions descriptions of each grade range. So, im most cases, there would be no difference between an A+ and an A- for the purposes of conversion.

I would have to see the whole grading scale to be able to suggest a conversion – the “and so on” in your comment indicates that there is more there.

By the way, you would need to convert the grades for each individual class over the past two years. Simply calculating the conversion for your CGPA would not be accurate.

Thank you for your useful information, I have a question if you answer it will be your kindness.
I will graduate in March 2019 and I want to apply for September by the university recommendation but during these 6 months I will have a dependent visa because my wife is also studying for her apartment keeping but I will not be in Japan and I will go back to my country. can I apply in this case?

If you are not going to be living in Japan during the 6 months between graduating in March and starting your studies again in September, you wouldn’t need a visa.
Being in your home country during that time would be important to meeting the eligibility criteria, but holding a dependent visa could be a problem. You would need to surrender that visa before applying for your MEXT student visa after your acceptance and the only way to surrender it would be to do so at the emigration booth when leaving Japan.

If you are not planning to live in Japan between March and September at all, I would recommend that you consider giving up the Dependent Visa during that time to avoid any complications with your scholarship eligibility. (You could still visit Japan on a temporary visitor visa in the meantime!)

Dear Travis:
Thank you for your help. I need to have all necessary documents include the application form for university recommendation procedure for 2019 so where can I download them? and also I have another question if you answer it and give a solution it will be your kindness.
I am studying my master degree in Miyazaki university and I will graduate in March 2019 now I don’t have a valuable English certificate score but I have studied all my master course in English so can university grantee me for language ability? or is there any other solution?

You need to get the documents from the university that you intend to apply to. They may also have additional documents or requirements that I do not know about, so that is why I deliberately do not provide direct links to the documents here – I do not want to give you information that would not be accurate for your individual situation.

The proof of English language proficiency requirement is up to each university to interpret. Most will want to see scores from an internationally recognized test, and I suspect that MEXT may begin requiring those test scores this year, since last year they said that test scores should be submitted if at all possible.

You should still have time to register for a TOEFL iBT test, take it, and get your scores in time for the deadline if you act now.

Other than that, all exceptions to the rule would be up to the individual university to determine. I recommend taking an official test, but if that is absolutely impossible, then you would have to contact the university to ask if they would accept alternatives.

Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz

Chicha2018年9月23日

Hi!

Thanks for such a comprehensive post. I just want to confirm the age limit, so you are saying that people who graduated from university, have all the requirements available, but will only be 21 by the start of the program will not be allowed? Where is this stated in the guidelines from MEXT? When the age eligibility given was only one date and “those born after that” guideline?

I think I explained myself poorly – that was not what I was trying to say.
I think you are referring to the “Academic Background” section, where I listed two separate sets of criteria. That section was supposed to indicate that you must meet one or the other, not both. If you have graduated from a 16-year program of education, then the age would not have been a factor.

Thank you so much for all the useful information you share continuously. it really helped me during the process! And I came often to review some information 🙂
I would really appreciate if you can share any experience you may have with this issue: what about if you receive the scholarship, you are around under 35 yo at the moment of application, but when you want to apply for the extension a few years later (master or phd), you already are over the application age? Can you receive the successive extensions? What I mean it is if the age limit is only applicable for the “initial” process of the application.

Thank you for your kind words. It’s not a bother at all!
The age requirement is only applicable to the initial application. In the extension application process (which I really need to write about on here at some point soon), there is no age-based eligibility requirement. Once you have your foot in the door, you can keep applying for extensions!

Hi, thanks for your nice blog, I have question. Last year I applied for MEXT scholarship but did not qualified during university screening that means did not selected in faculty meeting. The faculty adviced me to apply again this year. But I want to apply this year from another university. In this case should I mention in the application form that I applied last year for the MEXT. In the form there is a question ( did you apply for the MEXT in the Past)

I would only suggest mentioning your past application if they ask you directly.
There is no question in the official MEXT form that asks if you applied in the past, so if you saw that question, it may be a university-specific form. The MEXT form asks if you were awarded the scholarship in the past or if you have another application ongoing and the answer to both of those would be no.

Great guide! Thank you so much… I am a Masters student in Tohoku University graduating in September, and starting my PhD in October with the MEXT scholarship. But I have a situation. I am pregnant and my baby is due in January. My professor is OK to give me a one month break and return back after the delivery. I plan to get my MUM to watch over the baby. But I need to know if there is any kind of possibility to discontinue the scholarship for 3 months and continue back, since the baby would be at least 3 months by then . I know it might not be a fair request but hope I can get a small break to look after the baby.. Hope you can help. Thank you so much for having such a helpful blog for international students.

Thank you for your kind words and congratulations!
Unfortunately, for the scholarship, if you do not sign every month to show that you are on campus and working on your research, then you would not be able to get your scholarship stipend for that month. If you miss signing for three months in a row, you would lose the scholarship altogether. (You would be considered to have voluntarily withdrawn). There is no exception for pregnancy and birth as far as I am aware.
You may be able to work something out to only be studying part time during that time, but keep in mind that the end date of your scholarship cannot be extended, so you need to be sure you can catch back up without losing any time.

Dear TransenzJapan,
Thank you for very detailed information. The thing is the way GPA calculated by my Uni is a bit different…and my GPA seems average. Actually, I have plans to try MEXT scholarship in near future( after I finished working for two years)….Is it still possible to get scholarship related to business and management majors like Finance and Economics? Because, what I have heard in my home country (Myanmar) is, other subjects like chemical engineering or science related majors are very easy to get scholarships…

You might want to check out my more recent article on how to calculate your GPA, where I talk a little more about conversion methods.

Yes, it is still possible to get the MEXT scholarship in business and management majors if you have a strong application. For the Embassy Recommended MEXT scholarship, your country’s government may have some say in favoring one major over another, but if you apply for the University Recommended MEXT Scholarship, every major has an equal chance.

What happens if you become ill during your time as a MEXT scholar and need to take a leave of absence from university? I assume it’s simply not possible, and if you don’t graduate within the designated time period because of illness you lose your scholarship?

Actually, there is an exception to missing your designated time because of circumstances beyond your control such as hospitalization.
The requirement to finish your degree in time states that you would lose the scholarship immediately if it becomes apparent that you cannot finish your degree on time due to poor academic performance, etc.

That said, it would have to be pretty serious for a medical issue to affect your graduation time. I never saw it happen in my years of working with MEXT scholars, even when one of them was hospitalized for two weeks.

I have obtained a GPA of 2.246 out of 3 and have choosen information engineering as my field of study . I would kindly want to know if I am eligible for MEXT 2018 if I have a strong topic of why I want to study my 1st choice and a strong view of what I want to do in future.

Sorry I forgot to mention that I have already written them in the application form for undergraduate .Sorry for the late delayed message and my submission last date is tommorow . Hope, u would help me to clarify my unsorted thought .

I know your exam scores are important in determining who wins the scholarship, but I do not know of any particular breakdown in how each test/document is weighted (or if they are even given specific weights). The best advice I can give you is not to worry about that and just focus on studying to do your best on the exams!

Sorry for the late Response .
Thank u For ur kind reply .
I would also like to understand that which paper should I give in mathematics. Should I give Mathematics is A or Mathematics B . I have applied in only Information engineering That is in NATURAL SCIENCE (A)

Unfortunately, the undergraduate scholarship is not my area of expertise, and I am not familiar with the eligibility criteria, so I do not know how GPA is considered in that application process. I have written a new, updated article on how to calculate your GPA, though, that you may find helpful.

Thank you for the guide, it clears up a lot of things about the application process. However, I have a question about the grade conversion.
Here, the grades go from 5 to 10, with 5 being the only failing grade (and no grades reserved for gods 😀 ). It’s like 95 is 10, and there are also some pass/fail exams. The ECTS credits are also used.
But, the thing is, you have to pass ALL the exams to graduate, and can retake them as many times as you wish, until you’re satisfied, so you can’t really have a failing grade in any class…
so, I’m not quite sure how I should calculate the grade conversion.
Also, you wrote that only the last 2 years, or 4 (finished) semesters are taken into account. Would that mean every exam taken in that period, no matter which semester it is from, or only the passed exams from those semesters? Or maybe the exams not taken by then count as fails (and they don’t have to be taken at any specific semester)?
I hope I explained everything clearly…
Thank you,
Katarina

I’m afraid that I can’t give you a definite answer. If you are applying for the Embassy Recommendation MEXT scholarship, the Japanese embassy in your country should be familiar with your grading system and have a way to interpret and convert grades. If you are applying for the University Recommendation, however, they may struggle more.

Is your transcript divided by semesters or by subject areas? I have seen transcripts from systems like yours where the courses were divided by subject areas instead of chronologically and the only scores were from exams. In those cases, we converted all of the test scores that fell within the most recent two years, including retakes. (I’m not saying that was the right way or how everyone would do it, just how we did.)

Hi. I’m from India and have passed class 12 board exam with 72 in physics and 75 in math in 2015 but for some circumstances I couldn’t apply for 3 years. Am I eligible to apply for mext in undergraduate level in 2018 for physics honours?? Please reply ASAP

My expertise is in the graduate scholarship, not the undergraduate scholarship, so I am not as familiar with all of the eligibility requirements for that.
I recommend that you refer to MEXT’s application guidelines, directly.

This article is about the University Recommended MEXT scholarship, which is only available at the graduate level. To apply for the undergraduate scholarship, you would have to apply via the embassy.

Hi!
thank you for writing such a wonderful blog. It is so informative and provides very detailed info about the process of the application.
My problem is that my GPA is not competitive, so I want to know what if is there a supervisor at a Japanese university who is willing to accept me in his research group? is getting a recommendation from him would enhance my chances to get the MEXT scholarship?

Thank you for your kind words!
You cannot get a recommendation from a Japanese professor for the application process. Your recommendation has to come from your adviser, dean, or president of your most recent university.
If you are in touch with a professor in Japan and that professor has agreed to supervise you if you are accepted, then that would certainly be a helpful thing to mention in your interview!

Yes, the same calculation method would apply.
But in some cases, the Embassy will also impose a minimum cumulative GPA requirement in your country’s system, as well. In that case, you would have to follow both.

If your program awarded a bachelor’s degree or equivalent, then that should be enough to be able to apply for a Master’s degree.
If your program was not equivalent to a bachelor’s degree, then you would need to complete that degree, first.

I see what you mean!
The requirement is to submit an abstract of your graduation thesis. If you wrote a culminating thesis for your degree, you should send an abstract of that paper. If you don’t have a graduation thesis but have presented any papers, then you can submit an abstract of one of those.
If you have no thesis or presented papers, I would recommend that you check with the university or embassy for their guidance on how to move forward, since it will be up to their discretion.

Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz

susan2018年4月19日

thank you so much for your kindness Travis ,,,,

Lukas2018年4月10日

Hi Travis! I previously participated in a 1 month scholarship to Japan as an exchange student. Would that make me ineligible to receive a MEXT scholarship? Thank you!

If you received a MEXT Japanese Studies Scholarship (or JASSO scholarship) as an exchange student but then returned to your home university afterward and graduated, then that would not affect your eligibility. You are still able to apply!

Hi
I want to participate in master degree
but I do not have so much article.
I am a textile designer
last year I was nominated but I could not pass the other steps.
is lack of article could it be one of their reason?

Lack of published articles isn’t likely to be a significant factor. Grades in your last degree program and the quality of your Field of Study and Research Program Plan are usually the biggest factors.
Did you apply for the University Recommendation scholarship or Embassy? How far did you make it in the application process? That might give me a hint as to what could have been the issue.

Wow, what an incredible post!! Thank you for sharing all this info!
I wonder… Does a 2.3 gpa out of 3.0 equals a 76 out of 100? 🤔
Anyway. Do you personally know people who got the MEXT Scholarship? Were they all exceptional students with excellent grades?

You can’t simply convert an overall average from one system to the next. You can actually get very different results depending on how you arrived at the average. For example, if you had a lot of nearly perfect grades and a few bad ones that brought down your average, you would have a different converted score than if all of your grades were about average.
You have to convert it on a course-by-course basis, and the exact conversion method depends on your country’s grading system.

I know several scholarship winners personally and also was responsible for converting grades and reporting them to MEXT at the university level. For the university recommendation, most applicants that won the scholarship had outstanding grades. (Through some applicants with lower grades got the PGP category scholarship). They also had well thought-out research proposals.

While I never directly converted grades for the Embassy Recommendation, I would assume that a high average would be helpful to be competitive there. Depending on your country’s system, a 76 might be competitive or it might not. I’d recommend that you take a shot at converting your grades to MEXT’s system and see what they are.

In India all the universities consider marks of mainly 10th and 12th grade’s and our grades fall down terribly in 11th grade due to the extra pressure and total change in the topics studied. In my transcript if I submit only 10 and 12th marks is it okay?

For the MEXT application, you are required to submit the transcript for all years at the last school you attended, so it would not be OK if you left out the years that you did poorly. Your application would be considered incomplete and would not be reviewed. I don’t know if the Embassy counts all the years or makes accommodations for the situation that you described. I only know that you have to submit all years.
Since it sounds from your comment like this is something everyone in India goes through, it should not be too big of a concern for you – all of your competition will also be students from India, so they should be in the same situation!

I want an information:
If due to some unforeseen reason a research student wants to cancel the scholarship himself/herself,how many days before he /she should inform the department or the international office.

In the event that a student wishes to cancel, he or she should contact the university as quickly as possible!
Depending on where you are in the application process, canceling early may still give the university time to recommend an alternate scholar in your place. If you wait too long, though, it would be too late and someone else would lose a chance at the scholarship.

Hello! Thank you for creating such a comprehensive guide to the scholarship application process! It is tremendously helpful and puts me more at ease about the whole ordeal!

I am currently working on the application for the embassy recommended scholarship in the US. I just have one question about the gpa calculation.

I spent my last two semesters (spring and summer) at a Japanese language school in Tokyo. The credits I received during my time there were accredited by my university and were counted toward my major as transfer credits (they appear on my transcript as transfer credits from a “Univ in Foreign Country” with the name of the language school).

I’m a little unclear if these semesters will count toward the gpa calculation. Although they were credits earned at a Japanese language school, my university counted them as normal study abroad credits to be used for my “degree-seeking program.”

If you could clear this up for me I would be extremely grateful! Thanks again for all the great information!!

I’m assuming that your home university did not count the grades you earned during study abroad, right? Some universities transfer both GPA and credits. Others only credits.

I would recommend that you calculate your GPA three ways, to be safe. I can’t be certain how the Embassy will do it.
– Calculate only the most recent two years of grades from your home university, counting the language credits as pass/fail (e.g. don’t factor them in) – I think this is most likely
– Calculate the last two years from your home university, but use the grade you earned at the language school to count for those credits
– Calculate the last two full years-worth of semesters spent at your home university.

I think the first is the most likely. If your GPA didn’t transfer from the language school, then it should be treated like transfer credits for a student who transferred partway through the degree. In that case, only GPA earned at the school of record counts for the calculation, but your pre-transfer GPA is still calculated as a reference.

My home university counted both the credits and the GPA from the language school and factored them into my overall GPA at my home university. My transcript from my home university shows the language school credits, grades, and the corresponding GPA.

Therefore, the transcript from my home university shows a Transfer GPA (the language school GPA), the GPA from my home university, and an overall combined GPA (I don’t have a transcript from the language school as everything was consolidated on my home university transcript and thereby accredited).

I studied at this language school several times as an undergraduate student (although only my last spring and summer semesters would fall into the “last two years” period) and my home university considered the courses I took there as a kind of dual program to be counted toward my main degree program (an “Individually Designed Major” in Japanese Language and Culture).

Since the courses I took at the language school were essential to my main degree and were part of my main study plan at my home university, I would hope that the credits and GPA would be calculated into the MEXT GPA calculation and wouldn’t be considered as part of a “pre-transfer” program.

Just to be safe, I will calculate the MEXT GPA from courses at my home university only. However, do you think the embassy (consulate where I’m applying) is likely to calculate the MEXT GPA including all the semester grades (GPA) given that they all appear on my home university transcript and given that they are all counted as part of my main degree plan?

I hope that I was clear enough in my explanation! Thanks again for being such a great resource for everyone!

In the situation you described – the credits and GPA are reflected in your transcript – MEXT should count those toward your GPA. In general, grades on that transcript will all count. It’s only when universities transfer credits only but not grades that things get complicated.
You might have to submit an extra explanation that the language school grades were considered home university grades and that no transcript or certificate of grades was issued by the language school, but that’s about it.

Of course, I can’t be 100% sure, but based on my experience, that’s my best assessment.

Hi
Thank you for posting your blogs about MEXT, they have been really useful.
I passed the primary screening for the MEXT scholarship as a research student but I have a question about the eligibility criteria.
I have a pre-existing medical condition which is a blood clotting disorder. I receive medication from the local hospital in my country and I have spoken to them about possibly doing the scholarship and they said there is a policy stipulating the government cannot send it to me while I am living overseas for more than 12 months because it is too expensive and not economical if I do not live here and pay taxes etc.
Of course the condition doesn’t affect my ability to study but obviously I need the medication to live. The doctor indeed put the condition down on my certificate of health so the Embassy would have seen it when I submitted my papers and I passed the first screening but no one mentioned it and I sure wasn’t going to start flagging it.
Now after some consultation with Japanese people, online digging and phone calls to Japan, it would appear I can get the medication over in Japan as a student if I apply and have a valid visa and such.
Now that’s all well and good, but my question is, moving onto the second and final screening for the scholarship, I wonder if MEXT eliminate people with fairly serious and costly pre-existing medical conditions such as mine, knowing there’s a good chance I will be applying for medication over there and they may regard it as less economical and simply a burden? Do they look into detail at your pre-existing and eliminate you on that basis, despite the fact they probably don’t know whether I can receive the medication from my country or not and how much it really costs considering they aren’t a health bureau?
What do you think? Will MEXT consider me a liability? Or is it nothing to worry about?
Thanks
Ben

One of the eligibility criteria of the MEXT scholarship is that applicants “must have no physical or mental health conditions hindering the applicant’s study in Japan.”
There should have been a checkbox in the medical form where the doctor was asked to say “Yes” or “No” to you being in sufficient health to go to Japan. If the Doctor checked yes, then that’s all MEXT needs. They generally are not medical experts, so they rely on that form.

Since you said that you can obtain your medication in Japan (Note: bring any documentation of your condition you can, including a letter from your current doctor, since that will help your re-diagnosis and new prescription in Japan), you should have no trouble with the screening. They are not going to discriminate against you just because you need medication.

Hi! Just a quick question.
I took summer school after my 3rd year and after my 4th year right before I graduated. Then does my gpa from start of 3rd year+3year summer+4th year+4th year summer all get accounted?

Your summer school sessions should count. In my experience, we took the last 2 years – defined as four semesters, when a semester breakdown was available – and included all the short sessions that fell within that time, as well. A summer or winter session never replaced a regular semester, though, even if a student had multiple summer terms that added up to the same number of credits as a full semester.

Thanks for the fast reply. Just one more question.
Our school grading system is A=80~100, B=70~79, C=60~69, D=50~59, F=0~49
Both percentage grade and letter grade seems to show up in our transcript. I know the 5 level system will be used to assess this, but I am curious whether MEXT will consider the letter or percentage grade since the value will be different depending on which one they decide to consider.

I’m not sure I understand what you mean. If an A is 80-100 then converting an “A” to the 3.0 scale will give you the same result as converting an 81.
You do the conversion on a course-by-course basis, not an average, so if the same letter always corresponds to the same percentage, you will get identical results no matter which system you use.

I was worried in the fact that our school reports both letter grade and percentage grade in the transcript. For example, if i got a 75 on a subject, the transcript would show both the score 75 and B. In this case if i consider the 75 it would have a value of 2 according to the 3.0 conversion. If i consider the letter grade it would be a 3. So i was curious which one I should do my conversion with.

It should never be the case that the letter and number grade give different results in the conversion.
If you’re looking at the tables on this page, understand that the tables assume a situation where 80-89% = B, as it does in Japan.
If you’re from a country where 70-79% = B, and it is indicated as such on your transcript, then you would have to modify the table so that the equivalent grades and percentages lined up. In the system you described, you would convert as follows:
80-100 = A = 3
70-79 = B = 3
60-69 = C = 2
50-59 = D = 1
0-49 = F = 0

I hope that helps!
Good Luck,
– Travis from TranSenz

Tayyab2017年9月3日

Hi transenz thanks for your kindness
I do bachelor machanical engineering and Im from Pakistan. I want to take admition in master degree in machanicl feild .my cgpa is 3.1/4 can I apply for mext scholarship?

This entire post is designed to help you figure out whether or not your are eligible for the scholarship on your own. I’d recommend rereading and double-checking all of the eligibility criteria for yourself!

Hi, thank you very much for your great guide. currently i’m doing master’s in architecture at kyushu University and all the eligibility criteria you talked about works for me but i’ve one problem. after my graduation in April i was planning to do internship in Tokyo for 4 month ” till the beginning of August or the end of July” originally the internship period was 6 month but i can shorten it after i explained to the company. i’m sure if i still qualify ? do i need to give up the internship even though it’s a very good opportunity in a very big corporation with possibilities of hiring me too. i’m very confused but when i asked at the university they didn’t mention there is a problem but i’m not sure if they are hiding that reality from me. i don’t want to lose my ability to apply for the scholarship.
Best regards
Ahmed

Thank you for your kind words!
In general, if you are staying in Japan for a specific reason (internship) that has a specific end date (like yours does), then that is not a problem for MEXT. It should not affect your eligibility in any way.
You will have to return to your home country to go through your MEXT visa application procedures, since you cannot change your status inside Japan, but that’s the only thing you’d really need to be concerned about.

I would like to ask a few questions:
1) I only have 15 years of education. Am I still eligible? Because in my country, it’s like primary school 6 years, secondary school 5 years, matriculation 1 year (if you take A-levels its 1.5 – 2 years depending) and university 3 years. But the requirements say minimum 16 years of education so I’m kinda worried.

2) The syllabus in my country is in English but our first language is not English. Do I have to sit for IELTS, TOEFL etc even though I got an A for English in the national exam back in high school?

3) In my country’s embassy scholarship requirements, it says we have to get minimum 3.4 CGPA for the research student scholarship. So I just have to follow based on that right? Does this mean I still have to convert on a 3.0 scale?

4) I study in a private university and my degree is affiliated with a UK university. Meaning my grades are based on the UK Grading scale and that I get 2 certs (one from the private uni and one from said UK university). Means if I convert my grade to 3.0 I follow the UK grading system, right?

This article is about the University-recommended scholarship, so I assume you’re asking about that.
1. Typically, if your country has a 3-year bachelor’s degree and you only have 15 years of education, that will be accepted. Some universities will direct you to contact them in advance for a preliminary screening to determine your eligibility, so you should read through their application guidelines carefully (when they are released) to find out how to do that.

2. This will be up to each individual university. But in general, yes.

3. Ultimately, you don’t have to convert the grades yourself, the university will do that. But in your case, you would have to meet the official 2.3 out of 3.0 criteria, not the 3.4 reference that your embassy gave you. (Don’t expect the universities to understand your grading system from your country as well as the embassy will).

4. They will use whatever your transcript uses as your grading system for each individual class. Make sure your transcript includes a method to understand the value of each grade!

Thank you very much for putting together this site and giving advice to all Japan/MEXT related queries. It’s super, super helpful; thanks for all your discerning advice. I just wish I had come across your site before my recent MEXT embassy application.

My question is related to grading systems; specifically, a University that traversed two grading systems during my UG degree. In this sense, I might be a unique case in terms of GPA calculations.

Background:

My university changed its whole system to the GPA (American System) from the First Class Honours system (British System) during my University year abroad. So effectively, when I returned my whole degree was assessed only on my final year grade. Before I left for my year abroad, I was aware that the system was changing and that the few 100 or so year abroad students would be marked on their final year only upon their return.

With this knowledge (and somewhat lazily), I took it easy in my second year. In the full knowledge that the work I did would not go to my final graduating grade or degree. So in essence my results for my Joint Major Degree were as follows:

– Final Year – GPA 3.27 (on the new system) or 2H1 (on the old system)
– Year Abroad – (in Japan)
– Second Year – 53% (or 2H2) / 40% (or Pass/P) on the old system

I’ve just been rejected from the MEXT by embassy application (first round) and I now fear it might be to do with my grades, as I’ve just discovered (and thanks to your website) that they calculate your final two years. I just presumed that like any postgrad application they take into account your final grade, your actual final mark.

My application / research topic was deemed strong by (and vetted by) two friends who both got MEXT places by embassy recommendation in previous years. So I now fear that my grades or a combination of grades and/or age went against me.

I’m now considering applying for MEXT by University recommendation but I’m confused about calculating my two different grading systems to match the MEXT grading system. For example, in my second year I do not have a course by course breakdown in my transcript (only a final second year overall result breakdown) 53% and 40% for my joint major. In any case, at first glance it does not look to be enough for the MEXT GPA 2.3 minimum.

Questions:

1 – My question is do MEXT make exceptions in grading circumstances? As you mentioned to user Ivan and others, that are sometimes exceptions like a program transfer. Do you think I can use my year abroad’s grades instead? Although my transcript/degree does not take into account my year abroad’s grades (but neither does it take into account my first two year’s grades).

In this sense, the MEXT grading approach seems quite draconian and inflexible given the multitude of global grading systems and changing individual circumstances.

2 – And as an aside, do you know why they use two years for calculations and not just the standard graduating result or final year grade/mark (like the majority of University applications) for calculations?

As you think about your GPA, it’s important to remember that the MEXT scholarship is a zero-sum game. There are only a certain number of slots per embassy or per university. So, it’s not just about meeting the minimum qualification, it’s about beating out all the other applicants. Let’s say for example that your embassy had 10 slots and you had a converted GPA of 2.5. Well, if there were 100 applicants with higher GPAs than yours and 50 applicants with a 2.9 or higher, there’s a pretty good chance you wouldn’t get called for an interview.

1) Transferring is the only exception to the GPA calculation methodology. Your grades from your year abroad might get included as a footnote, but unless your home university included them in your final GPA, they wouldn’t matter for MEXT’s calculation.
It might seem draconian, but embassies/universities simply do not have the time to give every application personal attention. Given the relatively small number of places compared to the number of applicants, it only makes sense for them to whittle it down to the best few as efficiently as possible. In Japan, (absent an entrance exam) GPA is still considered the best measure of how good a student you were.

2) If I had to guess, it’s because they want to see how you do in your specialized field. In most university systems, the final two years are when you take the most high-level courses related to your major. MEXT does not want to punish (or reward) you for your grades in introductory level courses or core courses outside your major.

You can, of course, take a shot at the University-Recommended scholarship, but if you’re concerned about your GPA being under 2.3, then I’d make sure to calculate that first. I have never seen a transcript that did not give some kind of individual marks for each class. Even when students told me that they were only graded for the full year, not individual classes (e.g. India, marks system), their transcript still showed the number of marks possible and number of marks earned in each individual course. For the MEXT calculation, they would look at each of those courses and evaluate the earned/possible percentage against the percents you would need for 1H, 2H1, etc.

If your GPA is under 2.3 or not much higher, then realistically, your best chance might be to enroll in a Master’s program in your own country and hold off on MEXT until your PhD. If you apply during the second year of your Masters, then your GPA would be based on year 4 of undergrad and year 1 of your masters.

I’m afraid I don’t have any information about the Colleges of Technology scholarship. But it would depend on the other applicants. Earning the scholarship is not a matter of getting a certain score, it is a matter of doing better than every other applicant.

Thank you very much for putting together this site and giving advice to all Japan/MEXT related queries. It’s super, super helpful; thanks for all your discerning advice. I just wish I had come across your site before my recent MEXT by embassy application.

My question is related to grading systems; specifically, a University that traversed two grading systems during my UG degree. In this sense, I might be a unique case in terms of GPA calculations.

Background

My Irish University changed its whole system to the GPA (American System) from the First Class Honours system (British System) during my University year abroad. So effectively, when I returned my whole degree was assessed only on my final year grade. Before I left for my year abroad, I was aware that the system was changing and that the 500 or so year abroad students would be marked on their final year only upon their return.

With this knowledge (and somewhat lazily), I took it easy in my second year. In the full knowledge that the work I did would not go to my final graduating grade or degree. So in essence my results for my Joint Major Degree were as follows:

– Final Year – GPA 3.27 (on the new system) or 2H1 (on the old system)
– Year Abroad – (in Japan)
– Second Year – 53% (or 2H2) / 40% (or Pass/P) on the old system
– First Year

I’ve just been rejected from the MEXT by embassy application (first round) and I now fear it might be to do with my grades, as I’ve just discovered (and thanks to your website) that they calculate your final two years. I just presumed that like any postgrad application they take into account your final grade, your actual final mark.

My application / research topic was deemed strong by (and vetted by) two friends who both got MEXT places by embassy recommendation in previous years. So I now fear that my grades or a combination of grades and/or age went against me.

I’m now considering applying for MEXT by University recommendation but I’m confused about calculating my two different grading systems to match the MEXT grading system. For example, in my second year I do not have a course by course breakdown in my transcript (only a final second year overall result breakdown) 53% and 40% for my joint major. In any case, at first glance it does not look to be enough for the MEXT GPA 2.3 minimum.

Questions

1 – My question is do MEXT make exceptions in grading circumstances? As you mentioned to user Ivan and others, that are sometimes exceptions like a program transfer. Do you think I can use my year abroad’s grades instead? Although my transcript/degree does not take into account my year abroad’s grades (but neither does it take into account my first two year’s grades).

In this sense, the MEXT grading approach seems quite draconian and inflexible given the multitude of global grading systems and changing individual circumstances.

2 – And as an aside, do you know why they use two years for calculations and not just the standard graduating result or final year grade/mark (like the majority of University applications) for calculations?

I’m sorry to hear about your challenges. My suspicion is that you’re right about the grades being at least part of problem, though it’s impossible to say that was the whole issue without knowing more. It’s possible, too, that even if your grades met the minimum eligibility criteria, that they only took a certain number of applicants with the top grades and best research plans. In that case, competition, not eligibility, would be the problem, and that can change from year to year.

1. No, MEXT never makes any exceptions to any eligibility criteria. The transfer situation I described before is written in their rules, it is not an exception, either.
You cannot use your grades from your year abroad unless they were transferred back to your home university and counted on the transcript.
I would disagree about the MEXT system being draconian. As long as you perform well in the system you’re in, then your grades will come out well in the conversion.

2. I can’t say for sure, but it probably has to do with those grades being a better predictor of graduate school performance. Typically, your final two years are the years where you take the most classes related to your major. At least, that’s the case in Japan. MEXT isn’t really interested in how you performed in English 101, for example, as that is hardly an indicator of how you will do in graduate school.

1. when applying for a research/PHD scholarship, do they consider my Masters grades only, or do they also factor in the undergrad results in determining my eligibility?

2. Also, can I apply for another Masters degree when I already have one, or am I limited to just the PHD route?

3. Finally, and I’m sorry, I know this is a tad bit tedious, but in my country, your last 2yrs of undergrad, the 3rd year you do not take any courses, you do a year-long internship, and given a grade for that, then go back to school for the 4th year and finish your regular courses. My question is, does MEXT look at the final 2 yrs in my case, or year 2, that is 3rd and 4th year, or 2nd and 4th year, skipping the 3rd year since there are no classes in that year, even though you get an overall year mark?

1. They consider your last two years of grades. If you have two years of grades from your Master’s then that is all they would consider. If your master’s was only one year, for example, then they would consider your Master’s grades as well as the final year of your undergraduate results.

2. You can, but you would probably be less likely to get the scholarship. You also would not be able to start as a research student if applying for the same level degree as the one you already hold, so that might complicate your application.

3. If you have a grade for the year-three internship, they would look at that grade plus your fourth year results to come up with two years of grades. (At least, that’s how we did it at my university).

Hello TranSenz,
I passed the written examination for the Embassy recommended scholarship and currently waiting for the interview. What struck me is that my grades were given in percentage and not in credits system. And do I need to have the average GPA score for Embassy recommended scholarship as well? My grades weren’t that good >.< and that keeps me worrying!

My school uses a 6 bucket grading system; A B C D, E and F. Where A= 100-70, B= 69-60, C=59-50, D=45-49, E=40-44, F=>40. How is MEXT going to compute my GPA and what points would be given to the different grades A, B, C, D, E, F on my transcript?
Thank you for the great job you’re doing

If more than one of those grades are not a passing grade (e.g. you would not get credit for graduation), then group all non-passing grades, for example E and F, together as “F” (or 0) on the conversion scale and use it like a 5-bucket system.

I’m sorry to hear that you are out of the eligibility age range for MEXT.
Unfortunately, I do not know of any similar scholarship program available across Japan. PhD tuition here is generally pretty inexpensive, but you’d have to cover your cost of living.

Many of the domestic scholarships are offered by companies that are looking to hire the scholarship winners after graduation, so they are targeted at young, Japanese-speaking undergraduate students.

your website is extremely helpful!!! OMG! Thank you so much for all of your hardwork!
—back to me— (wow that sounds selfish but I have a quick question)
I am from the states and I am graduating with a 3.8 GPA. So a 3.8 would be about 2.7~2.8 on a 3.0 scale right? Is there an app for this? LOL

You can’t simply convert an overall GPA from one system to another, you have to convert on a course-by-course basis. Depending on the circumstances, a 3.8 US GPA could end up being a 3.0 MEXT GPA (e.g. if your lower grades were A-).
I’m not aware of an app to convert GPAs to MEXT’s system, although that might be something developing in the future. For now, I still do it by hand.

Hello! Thank you very much for all these information. Your guide has been really helpful to me. I just have one question which is not specified here.

I want to apply for the scholarship to begin my master studies in October 2018. I am already doing another master and I will finish until June 2018. So I was thinking that my timing was perfect (finish my current master, have 2 months of vacation and then go to Japan). The problem is that I asked my embassy and they told me that in case of being selected, I would have to arrive to Japan 6 months earlier for the “preliminary language course”. So if my semester starts in October 2018, I would need to arrive to Japan in April 2018 for the Japanese language course (which of course, it’s impossible for me because I will still be finishing my master).

I already have a JLPT level 4 and 3 so I already know a little bit of Japanese. I’ve read on the guidelines of the scholarship that if you prove you have a good level of Japanese, you can avoid taking the language course, however they do not state which level is a “good level”, so my question is:
1) If I have a JPLT level 3 and 4, do I still have to take the preliminary japanese language course ?
2) And if it is indeed mandatory, when will the language course take place if I plan to start in October 2018 ?

I would really appreciate your help with this question because depending on your answer I would decide to apply or not. Thank you in advanced !

Sorry for taking so long to get back to you.
Typically, it is the university that decides whether or not you will have to take the Japanese language preparatory course. Based on my experience, I think that if you have passed the JLPT N3, then your ability should be high enough that the course would not help you much, so you should be able to skip it. I would recommend that you submit your JLPT scores along with your application documents when you apply to universities for the LoA, even if it isn’t required, so they can see that and hopefully don’t sign you up for the Japanese language.

Even if you do end up in the language program, it doesn’t work quite the way the Embassy explained. The date you submit to the embassy is the date you plan to go to Japan, not necessarily the date that you plan to start your degree.
So, you would still be able to arrive in Japan in Sept or Oct 2018. You would then spend 6 months in the language program, delaying your entry to the university degree program. Depending on your degree program, you might start in the following April (2019) or, if they only accept new students in the fall, then you would likely spend the spring 2019 semester as a non-degree (research) student then start your degree in Oct 2019.

Thank you so much for the guide but i was wondering what language the program is being offered with (English or Japanese) for Masters program and what are the comparative percentage of receiving the scholarship if you applied either through the embassy or through university recommendation.
I want to apply for 2018
PS: GOOD Job really, you literally made everything easy

Thank you for your kind words!
There are programs in Japan in either Japanese or English. (Obviously, there are more in Japanese). It depends on your field of study and the university you choose.
I’ve included some links to help you find programs taught in English in my most recent article about getting started with the Embassy recommendation application process.

As for your chances, that’s tricky to answer, but in general, I think most applicants have a better chance if they go through the Embassy, at least in terms of the number of slots you would be competing for. How competitive it is varies with your specific country (or, for the university recommendation, with the university you want to apply to).

I combined your comment and correction into one.
To convert your GPA, you have to convert your grades in each course, one-by-one, then average the whole thing based on the relative weight of each course. Your semester GPAs do not matter (and there is no reason to have to calculate them). As long as your overall average meets the minimum eligibility criteria, you are eligible!

I got my bachelor degree last year and apart from the graduation cetificate, my other transcripts including marks are not obtainable yet. The process is simply long in my country, Am I eliglible to apply for MEXT if I dun have transcripts yet? I want to apply for a master degree in public health.

Are you saying that none of your grades from your entire bachelors’ degree are available? If you have at least some available, then you may be able to apply with those, even if they don’t include the most recent ones.
We often had applicants who didn’t have their final year grades available yet when they applied and that wasn’t a problem then.

If the process is the same throughout your country, then the Japanese embassy there should understand that and have a workaround for you. I’d recommend contacting them to see if they have any advice. How do people go on to grad school in your country if the universities take over a year to release grades? Whatever your classmates would do to apply for graduate school inside your country should give you a hint as to what you can do to apply for MEXT.

Hello and thank you for your guide to the MEXT scholarship.
I am a Swedish citizen and I am planning to apply for the MEXT scholarship this year, I was wondering if it is possible for me to apply for another university but without any involvement with this or any other scholarship. To clarify, I want to apply for both MEXT and another university, for the other university I will not apply for any financial aid scholarship like MEXT, is this ok?

I was thinking it should be okay since it would be strange if a scholarship stopped me from applying anywhere else, like I would just apply for this thing and then hope for the best without any other plan? To me that sounds pretty bad.

The timing could be tricky. The MEXT eligibility rules (for both Embassy and University recommendation) say that you are ineligible to apply for the scholarship if you are currently enrolled at a Japanese university with a student residence status at the time of application (Unless you will graduate before the scholarship payment period starts) or you will become enrolled at a Japanese university prior to the start of the scholarship payment period.

So, if you get your acceptance decision from the non-MEXT university before you get your MEXT results, you would have to choose at that point whether to accept the offer from the non-MEXT university and cancel your application or to turn down that acceptance and stick with MEXT.

If the non-MEXT university’s results come out after you learn whether or not the MEXT university has recommended you for the scholarship, then it would be no problem.

Sorry for the complicated answer, but it’s all a matter of timing.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz

Hey Travis,
Thank you so much for this blog, it really gives someone confidence when applying for the MEXT scholarship.
I am applying for the Embassy recommendation MEXT scholarship. Please I have some questions I would like to ask.
1) Universities in my country use the 6 level educational system in which A = 5.0, B = 4.0, C = 3.0, D = 2.0, E = 1.0, F = 0.0. Please I want to calculate my GPA using the 3.0 grading scale to know if i’m eligible. So if A = 3.0, what are the scores for B, C, D, E and F?

2) What is the pass mark for TOEFL that MEXT will accept?

3) This is about my medical certificate. The physician that I saw filled my form awkwardly. In the Past illness/disorder section, instead of just checking none he wrote none in all the “Date of recovery/under treatment” columns. He also left the y-GTP space in the LFT lab test section blank saying that they don’t do it in the hospital. Is it okay to submit it to the Embassy like that?

Sorry Travis, one more question
I will soon write the TOEFL exam but the time the result comes out it would already be past the deadline. Will it be ok to put my GCE “O” level result in the application form just for now? I got a C in English.

You can list them in your application, yes. For the Embassy-recommended application process, you are not necessarily required to submit proof of English language proficiency. You will take a language proficiency test at the embassy during the application.

Sorry it wasn’t a quick response. I’ve been getting more questions than I can keep up with.

1) If there are multiple failing grades (e.g. “E” and “F”), then group those together as one level. All failing grades convert to “0”. In most cases, that should solve the problem!

2) There is no official minimum TOEFL. Your score has to be high enough for universities to be comfortable accepting you as a student, so it’s going to vary by university.
I recommend looking up the specific university’s website and looking for their application guidelines for fee-paying students at your level. They may list specific requirements there.

3) That should not be a problem. But if you want to be sure, take the document back to him and ask him or his staff to check the overall “none” as well.

First of all thanks alot for the informative blogs, the platform is allowing me to understand the selection policies of MEXT at a high pace.
The question i want to ask is, i am a Telecommunication Engineer with GPA 1.6/3.0.Now, as you know my chances of selection are not that much , in this situation can i apply in any university,ignoring english course universities on the fact that i will be able to attain Japanese course once i got shortlisted. Can i apply for a university that has masters available in Telecommunication engineering (that is only one university) or shall i apply for other universities too which are offering electronics and information system degrees. What do you think shall i be selected on the basis that very few students apply for masters in telecommunication engineering ?
Your precious reply will be warmly welcomed .Thanks in advance
Regards Nabeel from Pakistan

You’re welcome.
If your GPA is 1.6 on the Japanese 3.0 scale, I’m afraid you are not eligible to receive the MEXT scholarship. There is no exception possible if you don’t meet the GPA requirement.
Also, if you aren’t already reasonably fluent in Japanese (at least N2 level), then you would have to apply for an English-taught program. There is no way to learn Japanese to a sufficient level to be able to study for a degree in such a short time.
If you are selected through the Embassy-recommended scholarship, you may get placed in a 1-semester Japanese language course, but that is only designed to teach very basic Japanese so that you can shop for food, talk to your landlord, etc. It will not teach you enough to study for a degree.

When you apply for the scholarship, you are completing with all other applicants, not just applicants in your field, so being in a rare field does not necessarily help you, I’m afraid.

Quick question regarding the credit system in regards to UK university grading. In the UK, anything over 70% is considered an A, and grades above 80% is incredibly rare (90%+ is unheard of). Are things like this factored in at all?

The determination is ultimately going to be made based on the explanation of the marking system on your transcript and, to some extent, the university’s discretion, particularly in the case of a 6-level system.
If your transcript of marks lists the marks for First, Second Upper, Second Lower, Third, and Pass, then it could be as you said with First and both Seconds being 3, Third being 2, and Pass being 1, but that’s not a guarantee. Alternatively First and Second-Upper could be 3, Second-Lower 2, and Third/Pass a 1.

I’ve also seen UK transcripts that didn’t list a “Third” score, so the only options were First, Second Upper, Second Lower, and Pass. In that case, First and Second Upper would be threes, Second Lower a 2 and Pass a 1.

Unfortunately, there’s no fixed way of calculating this in the MEXT guidelines, but those are my best guesses. If you’re going through the Embassy application, they are going to be a lot more familiar with your grading system than I am and should have a set way of determining the equivalency. If you’re going through the University, though, it all comes down to the explanations written on your transcript itself.

A quick question regarding eligibility particularly to this point >>> “Those wishing to engage in fieldwork or an internship in a country other than Japan after submission of their application.”

I am UK citizen who currently resides in the USA as my spouse is American. I have been working in UK but returned to the States to be with my spouse. I am currently looking for work here until and expect to be employed shortly. My goal is to work here until hopefully going to Japan on MEXT next year. Does this in anyway make me ineligible? I should think not as I am not in education and I have to work to support myself even though I am in a different country.

That line item is badly worded in English. To match the Japanese meaning, it should say something like “Those who, at the time of application, wish to engage in fieldwork or an internship in a country other than Japan during their studies.”
There is no problem with working in another country while you wait on the results of the application process. You would only become ineligible if your research topic required fieldwork or an internship outside of Japan during your studies.

Thanks for the blog!! It is really helpful . I am doing my 3rd year graduate program in computer science. I would like to do my masters in Japan. As I noted the application for MEXT scholarship is already open for 2018. I have the following queries related to it.
1) I will be graduated only by July 2018 and I probably will get the certificate of graduation by September. Is it advisable to apply for 2018 October batch or should I wait and apply for MEXT 2019 as my graduation certificate can take delay and we need to specify it in application.
2) I am from a country where the native language is not English but all our studies are done in English language. Should I write a English test like IELTS to prove my language?
3) I am confused about whether to apply for 2018 as it is too early for me before graduation and I don’t want to mess it up or should I wait and do Japanese study for JLPT mean while and apply for 2019 ?
4) I have already been to Japan twice as a part of student exchange program . Will it be useful for my application?
5) should we need to concern about the professor under whom I do masters prior to the application or is it needed only after I get selected?
Thank-you!!

Thank you for your kind words!
1) You can apply for the October 2018 admission. You would need to provide a “certificate of expected graduation” when you apply to show that you are scheduled to graduate before the scholarship starts and would then have to produce the final certificate of graduation when you arrive. The Certificate of Graduation does not need to be your formal diploma. It can be a letter from the registrar stating that you have met all the criteria and are considered graduated, just awaiting the diploma issuance.
2) I would recommend that you do. Some universities might waive the requirement for you, but others will not. (Where I worked, we would have required you to submit test scores).
3) You should have no problem with 2018. There are a lot of applicants who apply before they have graduated and start their MEXT studies right after graduation, the way you are planning to do.
4) It’s nice to have that on your application, but it isn’t necessarily going to be a significant help for you unless you’re applying to a university where you studied abroad and the professors remember you (or can look you up).
5) I would recommend choosing a professor in advance. As I wrote in the article about the Field of Study and Research Program Plan, you want to write that plan as if you’re talking directly to one specific professor. Make sure your research is connected to his/hers and try to get him/her interested in supervising you.

Hi ,
I have a doubt with the application, i am doing 6 th semester in computer science engineering. In the brief info we need to specify the CGPA and only my 4 semester results are out. Should I write the CGPA based on the marks I got till now?

That example is for the Japanese grading system. Your grades will be evaluated against your country’s grading system, which will be different. (You will have to provide an explanation of the grading system as part of your application).

There are some systems where 70-100 is an A, 60 is a B, 50 is a C, etc. In those cases, the conversion should be based on the scores actually used in that country. Map them to a 4- or 5-level grading system, as appropriate.

Hi!!! Thank you so much for the information but I was wondering if this scholarship is also applicable for those who have a long-term resident status there in Japan? Also, do foreign students have to take Japanese language test first for the entrance examination for the scholarship?

No, you would have to leave Japan and give up your long-term residence to become eligible. All scholarship recipients must be on a student residence status. (That’s why I never applied for it myself!)
You would only need to take a Japanese language test if you were applying for a program taught in Japanese that required it. It’s not a requirement for the scholarship.

Hi my question is how many i time’s i apply for MEXT via embassy recommendation for example i fail this year (in 2017) for some reason like my qualification not equal to Japanese education .Can i apply in 2018 or this is one time game ?
for record i have 3-years Associate Engineering diploma and 2-years B-tech pass undergraduate degree so i have total 15 years education plus 6+ years professional work experience in my study related field Electrical/Electronic ,. i am applying for research student or master degree

You can keep applying until you are too old to qualify for the scholarship. On the University-recommended application, I saw the same applicant apply three years in a row, once.
However, if you are rejected by the Embassy-recommendation process because your educational background is not deemed equal to a Japanese university graduate, then you would need to meet the eligibility requirements (e.g. get an honors degree, etc.) before you apply again, or else you would face the same result.
Since the system varies from country to country, I can’t say for sure whether your background would qualify, but the Japanese embassy in your country is going to know your education system much better than I do, so they’ll be able to make that decision.

thanks for your reply it is very help full . i want ask one more question , i thinking about apply in 2017 for 2018 year as Non-degree student. i am currently enroll as student in MSc Computer science program in my home country university and i graduate in December 2017 So if i don’t mention my current degree in my Mext scholarship application form and i select this year for non-degree student . What kind of problem i face In future ? i don’t want mention because on my home country Japanese embassy web site say’s in requirements student graduate in June 2017 eligible to apply and if i mention may be they reject my application.

The requirement for MEXT is that you have to finish your current degree before you arrive in Japan (e.g. by March 2018), but that only applies if you’re applying for the next higher level degree in Japan. (e.g. In your case, if you were applying to be a PhD-level non-degree student).

If you are applying to be a PhD-level non-degree student, then you would need to list your MSc, because you wouldn’t be qualified without it.
If you’re applying to be a Master’s-level non-degree student, then completing your Bachelor’s degree is the only requirement to qualify, so it doesn’t matter when you finish your MSc. You still have to list it in the form though, since not listing it would be lying and lying can get you disqualified.

You might also want to double-check with your embassy about the date. They may have listed the wrong year my mistake. It makes sense for the 2017 scholarship that you would have to finish your degree by June 2017 to qualify, but for 2018, you should have more time.

Hi Travis thanks for attention. After reading your reply i decide mention my MSc in my MEXT application form but i still scare of rejection because my home country embassy clearly say’s(“Students whose final result is expected in June 2017 are eligible to apply.”) I mention Embassy website link for you ( http://www.pk.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_en/MEXT_Research_Scholarship.html )
May be i misunderstood .
One more thing i ask from you, your Blog section about Research Plan & Field of study not give the enough information . I bit confuse can you suggest me some other web links.
Once Again Thanks for your reply your blogs Big help for people like me.

While I plan to work on updating the article on the Field of Study in the future, it probably won’t be in time for your needs. I would recommend that you talk to one of your current professors or academic advisor for guidance on how to write one. I do not have any other resources at this time.

Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz

Menna2017年4月15日

Hi Travis. I’d like to thank you so much for sharing this valuable information with us. It’s highly informative and useful and thanks all for your comments…It helped me a lot!
I just wanna make sure of something. should I contact professors before applying through embassy or should I just wait until I pass the primary screening and take it step by step. I’m a little bit confused about this because I find applicants contacting professors before going through the embassy application!
thanks Travis again and looking forward to hearing from you!

Thank you very much for your kind comments.
You can contact professors before going through the primary screening for the purpose of relationship-building and discussing research. That can help you get to know them and their interests so that you can write a Field of Study and Research Program Plan that will appeal to them. And it will help when you ask them for a Letter of Acceptance later on.
However, what I have recommended in this article is that you do not contact them before the primary screening to ask for a Letter of Acceptance. They can’t give you one at that stage anyway and since the primary screening is when most applicants are eliminated from the process, it’s not worth their time since they don’t know if you will pass.
I also highly recommend that you avoid contacting them and asking them for help on your Field of Study document, etc., in the first email. That would be rather rude. (Although I have seen a lot of applicants do it and hurt their chances with that professor).

From what I’ve read, this blogs information on the mext subject seems to be more oriented to research students, although in other posts there was a bit of talk of the other scholarships. I would like to apply for the undergraduate and was wondering if, other than the obvious, are there any major differences in the eligibility? I’m mostly wondering about the gpa.

This blog is about the scholarship research students (graduate students), as you noticed.
I don’t know if the GPA requirement exists for undergraduate students, since it does not appear in the instructions on MEXT’s website. I worked at a university handling graduate scholarships, but the undergraduate scholarship generally only runs through the embassies, so we never handled that directly.

The only major difference in eligibility that I am aware of is age. Applicants must be between the ages of 17-22 as of April 1 of the year they would start studies.

Maybe someone else with more experience in the undergraduate scholarship can chime in with more information.

Hello, before asking I would like to thank you for all your helps.
-I’m from Algeria and I’m studying in the year before my last year in high school, ,,I’m preparing for the Monbukagakusho scholarship right now ..I’ve looked at the requirements in the website of the embassy of japan in Algeria ,They didn’t mention the minimum mark of your transcript grades while in Morocco they’ve required superior mark than 16.50/20 as general grade
when we look to my transcripts everyone has more than 16.50/20 but one of them has terrible marks! !! And low grade they’ve required all th three transcripts in each year ,I don’t want to give them that transcript. .. Do you think that it is possible? Or it will effect in my selection process in both cases? Please advise me,
-what do you suggest for me to pass as tests to rich my chances in scholarship. .I’ve already passed Jlpt N4 and Sat subjectmath level 2. And I want more ..please take in consideration my country because I’m not from Europe to pass all the international tests we have SAT ,Toefl ,Jlpt,..
-I’ve participated in an exchange program with the US embassy this year it’s a high tech program so I became a programmer with a certificate from an American university. .I have many activities in technology. ..do you think this will help in my favor or against?

I’m afraid I don’t know very much about the undergraduate scholarship evaluation process. My only direct experience is handling applications for the graduate scholarship.

You do have to give them all of your transcripts. Grades will be converted one-by-one and then averaged, so how much that one bad grade will hurt you depends on the total number of courses.

In my experience, it’s not how many tests you’ve passed or what programs you’ve participated in that matter, it’s what you’ve done with it. If a test isn’t required for the application, then it certainly won’t hurt you to take it, but it won’t help you significantly, either.
The most important tests are the ones you take at the embassy for the application process.

For your exchange program in the US, you need to be able to relate it to your goals for your studies in Japan. If it shows your dedication to working toward the same goals, and you can explain that in the interview, then that could help make you a more attractive candidate to the interview committee.

Hello Travis,
Thank you so much for all the important information you are sharing with us in this wonderful website. i have contacted you 2 times now and you were a great help!
My supervisor have contacted me a few days ago and told me that the MEXT want an explanation of how my grades can be considered are higher than 2.3, and he even said that they want to know how to calculate it, so the professor told me to do the calculation myself. At first it was hard since in Morocco we don’t have GPA system and we only have a 20 points grading scale so i did convert it to letter grade system and with the help of an international university in Morocco called “Al Akhawain” (the only university in morocco that uses the american grading system because it is a private one) and i told my professor about the method i used to calculate it.
I was asking if i should only calculate the lastest 2 years of education even though my bachelor is 3 years and not 4?
I would like also to know why the MEXT couldn’t calculate my GPA and why the University didn’t calculate it as well before sending the documents to MEXT? And how the MEXT can trust my calculations? I mean they should have their own methods to do it!

I’ve never heard of a university asking a student to calculate the grades themselves. That seems a bit lazy.
MEXT does not calculate your GPA, ever. In fact, in most cases, MEXT never even sees your transcript. The university is supposed to calculate your GPA and report it to MEXT. So if the university has elected to accept your calculations as accurate and report the result to MEXT as your true GPA, then you shouldn’t face any problems.

Yes, you would still calculate the past two years, regardless of the length of your bachelor’s program.

It sounds like you have a handle on the calculations, but if you’re still struggling for any reason, I think France also grades on a 20-point scale, so you might be able to get a hold of a conversion chart from a French university’s website, as well.

Hello TranSenz,
Thanks for the blogs. I am applying for MEXT for the first time. I had few questions in my mind.
As you rightly said, in the ” Simultaneous application to multiple university parts,” regarding not to apply to multiple scholarship. However, I still have a doubt regarding it. There is the certain program that offers both University Recommended and Embassy Recommended. If I am applying for both in the same university, will it be, like, not good?
Also, cant we apply to multiple scholarships , and after getting anyone , reject the others?

It is possible to apply for Embassy and University MEXT in the same year, even at the same university.
You should actually know the results of the Embassy application (or be nearly certain) before you have to submit the University application. If you pass the Embassy primary screening and get the Letter of Acceptance, then you are almost guaranteed to receive the scholarship. You would know that by September or October at the latest (with the final decision in Dec or Jan). Likewise, if you didn’t pass the Primary Screening, you would know that well before the University application process starts.
You could even start the University MEXT application process while you are waiting on the results of the Embassy, then withdraw from the University process when you confirm that you have been selected for the Embassy.

Yes, you can also apply to other (non-MEXT) scholarships at the same time and withdraw/reject the others later if you receive MEXT. But you can’t do that with multiple MEXT university scholarships.

I’m still undergraduate but already thinking about applying for the Research scholarship for my PhD in 2 years (I live in Europe, don’t know if the american system is different). I’m getting a bit worried because our university is very elitist towards the undergraduate people (we are more than 1000 in our college department for only 15 seat in the end, because of that the teachers are very strict and a mark that would be a A in another university is a C in ours). However, once people graduate, the marks become way better, most of people get B or A.

My question is: I’m going to be graduating for the next years in my uni, right now my undergraduate marks are horrible, some B but the majority are C. Supposing my year of graduation, next year, goes well and I get a A like a lot of people, do I have a chance to be eligible? I’m affraid it’s already too late to get it, because I would have to make my application file up in 1.5 year, that means they will have to calculate my GPA with my undergraduate marks, right? Does that mean that, because I had bad marks during my undergraduate courses, I won’t be able to be eligible, even if I got good marks once I graduated?

The grade conversion system differs by country or university. That’s why one of the documents you have to supply is an explanation of the grading system. That document would show that grading is more severe in your country or at your university so the Japanese university can convert your grades fairly.

To give an example, I know from doing grading conversions on a regular basis that a “C” in the ECTS scale used in some places in Europe is equivalent to a “B” from the US or Japan. However, it is your task to make sure that the university you apply to understands that system. If your university can produce a chart showing what an “A” means (for example, what percent of students earn it or a written description), what a “B” means, etc., that will help your case. You may need to produce a separate version for undergraduate and graduate, if the systems are different, too.

Hi ! Thank you for such an helpful post ! I had some questions about the eligibility.
I applied for the Japanese Studies MEXT Scholarship through embassy recommendation and got recommended by my embassy, so I basically passed the first screening. Do the eligilibility requirements differ regarding the way of application ? (University/Embassy), or the type of scholarship ? (Japanese Studies/Research).

I mean, my grades are very bad (around C) because the academic system in my country is quite severe so is my university which is quite elitistic it’s difficult to get a B here and even if I got recommended by my embassy after passing the tests, I’d like to know if I have zero chance to pass the second screening just because of my grades ?

I can’t figure out if the embassies send people who are, they are sure, eligible (why sending people they know ineligible ?), or if they basically send every people who passed their tests and let MEXT calculate their grades.

I’m more familiar with the MEXT scholarship for graduate students than the scholarship for Japanese Studies. Some or all of the requirements I list in these articles may not even apply in your case.

As far as I know, the eligibility requirements do not differ by the application type (University/Embassy), though they may be different by scholarship type. In either case, however, the Embassy is likely to be familiar with your country’s grading system, more so than universities in Japan would be, so they may have a more realistic way of converting those grades to the MEXT scale.

As far as I know, Embassies know exactly how many applicants from each country can get the scholarship and recommend only that number, so they would be sure to recommend only students who meet all the eligibility criteria. At least for the graduate scholarship, the primary screening at the Embassy is really the knock-out round. After that, the Secondary Screening is just to double check the earlier work. I don’t see why it would be different for the Japanese Studies scholarship.

Hi Travis and Geogaddi
I got that scholarship some years ago.
The process is quite different after passing the screen in your home country since each university has their own criteria to chose the students they want. I mean, there is a document where you can find what requeriments each univeristy has, it supposed you checked that before you applied to the scholarship because of university placement preference.
It is said must of people who pass the preliminary screen in their home country got the scholarship, because as Travis said, in the Japanese Studies every single country knows how many candidates they can recommend.
If you pass the screen at your country and in your placement reference you chose the option (i am agree that if i am not be chosen for any of my three options, MEXT can choose any other university where i will be enrolled) that will mean you must be in studying in Japan, it does not matter which university will be.
If you chose the option i want to withdraw the application if im not chosen by any university (and if you dont meet the requirements for the universities you selected) means you will not get the scholarship.
Hope this info will be useful for both.

Thank you for sharing your insight! I’ve never worked directly with the Japanese Studies scholarship, so it’s really helpful to hear from someone with experience.
I was particularly interested to hear that you have the option of agreeing to be placed in a university that is not on your list. That is a significant difference between the processes.

I have a question regarding grades. I have a 3-year bachelor’s degree from a university program that used a pass/fail grading system, which I suppose means that I don’t have any grades that are convertable to the MEXT grading scale (I just “passed” all my courses). My degree is in architecture, and usually when applying to graduate schools architecture students submit a portfolio and/or do entrance exams, and I am wondering how this would be handled if I were to apply for a MEXT scholarship within my field.

Furthermore, I am also wondering how visiting/staying in Japan on a tourist visa during the six month period before beginning one’s studies works. Is being in Japan for three months (on a tourist visa) within this six month period frowned upon or OK?

If you do not have any grades from your undergraduate degree, you would also have to produce some other form of concrete documentation showing that your academic performance would have been greater than the required minimum GPA (2.3/3).
I have not seen any professional architecture degrees in Japan taught in English (though I could have missed some), so you would likely be limited to academic programs in urban planning, design, etc. Since they are academic more than professional you will be competing with other students primarily on that basis.

There is no problem whatsoever with visiting Japan on a tourist visa during the 6 months leading up to the start of your program, as long as you return to your home country to apply for your student visa in time. (The only problem would be with applicants who are living in Japan on a mid- to long-term residence status, since that blurs the lines of eligibility).

I am now looking at the instructions for applying to the MEXT scholarship for 2017. It does not explicitly say anywhere that you are not allowed to be in Japan with a student visa 6 month before the course starts – does the rule you described not apply anymore? How are student visas issued by private language schools viewed? Could I have a student visa from a language school and stay in Japan until let’s say 3 months before I would start the university course?

Furthermore, I can’t seem to find anything regarding “excellent academic achievement” – only that I have to submit my grades. I assume that they still use the 2.3/3 rule “under the hood”?

The 6 months is not a hard and fast rule. The rule is that you must “newly arrive in Japan for the purpose of study” and, adding to that, leaving Japan for the sole purpose of meeting that criteria is not acceptable.
So, what I was trying to say is that you need to avoid the perception that you are leaving Japan for the sole purpose of qualifying for the scholarship (even it that is what you are doing).

When I handled these applications, we recommended leaving 6 months before the scholarship would start, in general, because that would leave no doubt that you weren’t leaving just to meet the eligibility criteria.
However, if you are in Japan for a specific purpose, that purpose has an end date, and you plan to return to your home country as soon as that purpose is over, then you are fine, even if it is less than 6 months.

For example, if you’re studying at a language school and you’ll be enrolled until the course ends in July, you would have no problem. It’s less than 6 months, but you have a clear reason to leave Japan.

Typically, the “excellent academic achievement” statement means that you have to submit an explanation of your grading system so that the university can tell if your performance was high level or not. In some countries, 70% is an excellent grade. In others, it’s barely passing. So, you have to be able to show what your system is.
And yes, the 2.3/3.0 is still clearly referenced in the guidelines given to universities, at least. (I do not have access to the guidelines that MEXT sends to embassies).

Thanks for all the helpful information on this blog and continous maintenance!

I would like to apply to a Japanese university but due to high tuition costs and living expenses I cannot pursue my study without financial help. I am expecting to get my grade for the BA thesis soon and have prepared to enter the consecutive MA in my home university. However, this MA program does not lie within my field of interested which is why I would like to change it. However, there are some questions I would like to ask you before I send in my application to the university.

1. In the last 2 years from now I have spend one year studying abroad at a partner university in Tokyo but only 3 of all courses I took there were accepted by my home university. From last year October till now I worked on my BA thesis. I did not receive any information regarding ma BA thesis grade yet. My question ist: What grades are important for calculating the GPA? Do I have to incluce all grades earned during the year abroad or only those courses which were accepted by my home university? Since I worked on my thesis the last 4 months but did not receive any message regarding its grade, I cannot include it in the calculations either. I am a bit confused what to include and what not.

2. Regarding the field of study: My major includes English and Business Studies among other things. I would like to apply for an English-taught MA program in International Business and Development Studies. However, my BA thesis was concerned with the acceptance of English Loanwords by Japanese EFL learners. Although my BA included Business Studies as well, I was not allowed to include it in my BA thesis topic. Will MEXT still regard my BA as a major related to the MA program I want to apply for or am I ineligible because my BA thesis was not concerned with business studies?

3. Is it possible to apply for MEXT as well as the JASSO Honors Scholarship for Privately Financed International Students ? I received JASSO from 2015 to 2016 during my year abroad but expect to graduate any time from now, Am I still eligible to apply for the above mentioned scholarship?

4. Can I apply for JASSO before I come to Japan? I heard something of a Reservation system but could not figure out how exactly this system works.

I hope that I could clearly explain my situation. which seems a bit complicated. I am just worried that I apply for the university and pay all fees but have to refuse a potential offer of the university due to financial issues.

1. You don’t have to calculate your grades, the university will do that for you. You will probably have to submit the transcript from your year abroad (the one issued by the Japanese university) in addition to the one from your home country. If courses didn’t transfer or transferred only as pass/fail credits, then that year may not count, but they will still want to see the grades for reference. Honestly, I’m not completely sure how your situation would work out if you have no grades from your last year (thesis in progress) and no grades to transfer from your year abroad. I never saw a situation like that personally.

2. You would have to make that justification to the university or embassy, not to MEXT. I don’t think you’ll automatically be disqualified for the BA thesis being unrelated if your major included business, but in your Field of Study and Research Program, you should definitely describe the relationship as best you can and draw connections.

3. No, it is not possible to apply for the JASSO concurrently. It is specifically forbidden, at least for the University-recommended MEXT. (The Embassy MEXT may be different if the two applications do not overlap in time, but I don’t know enough about the JASSO scholarship to be sure.) If you received the JASSO scholarship for short-term study abroad students during your time in Japan, that should not be a problem for your application for the MEXT scholarship.

4. I do not know enough about that JASSO scholarship for degree-seeking students, so I am afraid I cannot answer that one. During my years working with graduate students, I never once heard of a student applying that way. Students always had to be nominated by their university, first. They could not apply directly. I’d recommend checking with the university you plan to apply to for more information.

Hello travis
First, thank you for your comprehensive articles.
They really help me.
I have a question. I am applying for mext university recommendation this year and still waiting for the announcement. However I received an email from my prospective professor saying he would like me to come to japan on July 2017 with student visa (he stated it ‘international research student).
The master program that I would like to apply is started on April 2018.
That means I couldn’t come to japan before October 2017. But than I need to attend University Entrance Exam on August 2017.
Please tell me what you think about my situation.
Thank you travis

I’m a bit confused by your situation. My understanding was that the university-recommended MEXT scholarship could only start in October, not April, so I guess you would have had to spend the first semester as a research student?
I can’t be sure, but it sounds like your advisor wants to get you to take the “entrance exam” in August so that you can start with the degree program in October.

The problem is that for MEXT scholars, there is a special visa process so you have to wait for them to be ready. Typically, you wouldn’t be able to apply for that visa before the end of July, possibly later.
The administrative office at your university should be aware of all of that (professors are often oblivious to administrative processes), so I would recommend double-checking with them to see what they want you to do.

Great guide! It’s super informative and hopefully I can get into my program of choice thanks to your help!

Looking at GPA, you mentioned that it’s the last two years of your degree. I did 5 years as I took an extra year to go on an exchange so would they look at the last two years still, or 2.5 years?

When I talked to someone at the embassy about transcripts and they mentioned that I should send in all of them. My first few semesters were terrible but my later semesters brought my GPA up to over the 2.3 required from MEXT. Would they disqualify me based on the lower marks, or do they care more about being over the 2.3 requirement (as well as having a great study plan)?

Also, I’m not sure if this would go in another article, but my field of study is music. For MEXT, are they looking more at STEM applicants? The school that I would want to attend is a National University, would that help as well?

For the grade calculation, you’ll use the last 2 years, regardless of how long you took to complete your degree.
You will have to submit your entire transcript – and they’ll probably want to see your transcript from your exchange program, too – but the old grades won’t count against you for qualification purposes. Your faculty may ask about them when it comes time for the evaluation, but even in that case, recent improvement and a killer study plan would probably be more significant.

I have not seen any indication that STEM majors get preferential treatment over others, such as music majors, so that shouldn’t be a problem.
If you’re applying for the University-recommended MEXT scholarship, then applying to a National University isn’t necessarily going to help you, as compared to a private, etc. Each university has a designated number of students they can recommend for the scholarship, so you’ll be competing only with the other students who applied to the same university.

First of all, thank you for all the time and effort you took in gathering all of these information, and sharing them with us in a way that is understandable and very much helpful. This is all greatly appreciated!

I’d like to ask you about my situation: I am an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) working in Japan now. As of last week, I have passed the screening for a graduate program (to be delivered in English) in one of Japan’s top universities, and am eligible to enroll this September 2017. As it stands, I believe I am ineligible (other than being too late) to apply for the university-recommended MEXT scholarship. However, I was wondering if I am still eligible to apply for the domestic selection grants. However, based on what I’ve read, that is only available for currently enrolled students. Am I correct to assume that:
– I can enroll this September term, apply for the domestic selection in October-November, and if selected, have the MEXT scholarship for the remaining 1.5 years of my program (April 2018 onwards)? (Meaning, I’ll find another scholarship or pay for tuition myself for the first term of my program).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I got into my dream program, and my life plan is to work for the government back in my home country. But I simply cannot afford the tuition for 2 full years, and there is no other program/university I want.

Congratulations on getting in to your top choice grad program!
Unfortunately, as you pointed out, it is too late to apply for the University-recommended MEXT scholarship for this year.

The Domestic Selection should still be available, but I have seen a variety of different ways universities handle that. Some of the Domestic Selection slots are assigned to the Super Global Universities, so if your university is one of those, it might have additional slots available this year.
Another commenter pointed out that at least one of the Super Global Universities was selecting new students for its Domestic Selection slots before they arrived at the university, so I would check your university’s website and any emails you received from them to make sure that isn’t the case for you.

Now, the “normal” way that we selected students for the Domestic Selection process when I worked with these scholarships was through the university’s unified scholarship application process. We ran an application process each semester for all international students who were interested in any scholarship that required the university’s nomination. Based on that process, we determined a ranking of all of our undergraduate students and graduate students separately.
Then, when we had a new scholarship available, we would select the top eligble student from that ranking and nominate them. The MEXT domestic selection scholarship is the best available scholarship for international students, so that went to the #1-2 students overall. Students couldn’t choose whether or not they wanted to apply for the scholarship, the university chose who was allowed to apply.

As far as I remember, even though you would apply for the Domestic Selection scholarship in the fall semester, the scholarship award is retroactive to apply to that semester, as well. I’m not 100% certain this is still the case, but it is worth following up on with your university.

Hello, Thank you for your guide, it was very beneficial for me,
Now I am having a dependent visa and living with my spouse in japan
I would like to ask you that Can I apply for Mext and will I be eligible for this scholarship?
I have found in your guide that I must be living outside Japan at least the 6 months before beginning your scholarship and if I are living in Japan at the time of application
I have to return to my country with a reasonable reason regardless application process. So I am confusing about reasonable reason. In my case, what should I do for being eligible? Thank you so much.

Since you are currently living in Japan, you will have to leave the country and give up your Dependent Visa in order to be eligible to apply for the scholarship.
My recommendation – based on the guidelines we used at the university I used to work at – is that you be outside Japan for at least 6 months before the scholarship starts (so, you would leave in April if your scholarship starts in October, etc.)

When you apply for the scholarship, if the university sees that you are currently living in Japan, they are going to ask you to explain why you are living here and when you plan to leave. This is to make sure you meet the scholarship eligibility criteria. You have to be able to give them a date and a reason when they ask. If your Dependent status is expiring or your spouse is leaving Japan, those are the “best” reasons, since they are clear and have an end date. But if your spouse will be living in Japan the whole time, you need to convince the university that you have a a reason you would be leaving Japan, which is not related to the scholarship.

Try to think of reasons why you might leave Japan (and leave your spouse behind) to return to your home country and choose one of those.

Hey! Thank you so much for the info, really helpful. I think that I am one of the “special case” that shouldn’t consider themselves special… I’ve just received the confirmation from the university few days ago and now the next step is to wait for the Ministry of Education response. The thing is, I am currently working in Japan, when should I live the country in order to pass through the Ministry screening? Thank you so much!

There’s no specific rule on when you should leave, except that you will have to return to your country no later than late July/August to apply for your student visa. You cannot change your status of residence in Japan.

What MEXT wants to know is that you have a definite plan to leave Japan for reasons other than “to qualify for this scholarship.” (Even if that plan is made up, as long as it sounds convincing, and you can back it up if necessary, that seems to be OK).
To be perfectly honest, though, I’m not sure when they check this. We checked it at the university level to make sure our candidates would have no problem in the MEXT screening, but MEXT never asked us to validate when the applicants would leave Japan. If the university that recommended you hasn’t said anything specific about when you should leave, then I guess it’s up to your discretion.

If you have a logical time to leave (e.g. contract renewal, end of studies for students, etc.), that makes sense, but it’s not a strict rule. I knew a guy who waited until the end of June to leave his job and return home because it wasn’t financially feasible for him to take any longer time off before the scholarship starts. He had a reason for the departure date, so he didn’t have a problem.

Thanks for making the guide. I was wondering what qualifies as “applicants who are or have been affiliated with military technology development in the past, as well.” Would this extend to students who have done internships for defense companies? I am having trouble finding information about this in any other scholarship requirements document. Would you mind elaborating?

I think if you did a student internship in the defense industry that wasn’t directly related to weapons technology research, you should be fine.

My understanding is that this is meant to keep out people who have a career in military/weapons technology development, particularly if that is related to their field of research in Japan. For example, if you were affiliated with a weapons research center recently and you want to research rocket technology in Japan or remote sensing, you might encounter a challenge.
However, if you wanted to research international relations or another field that can’t be directly weaponized, you shouldn’t have any trouble.

Hello! I have a question regarding the computation of the GPA. If I attended graduate school for only one term, does that mean I will compute my GPA based on the few units I earned from my graduate studies in addition to my third and fourth year marks during my undergraduate? Or just my final undergraduate year and graduate school grades and th Thanks in advance and I hope to hear from you soon!

The basic rule is that you use the most recent two years of grades. However, if you can’t break evenly at two years, for example if your undergraduate program only gave grades on a yearly basis, not a semesterly one, then you would go up to 2.5 years.

If your undergraduate grades are year-by-year, then you would calculate your GPA from the term of graduate school (on the graduate school’s scale) and the most recent two years of undergraduate (on the undergrad school’s scale).
If your undergraduate gave grades on a semester basis, though, you would only use the final three semesters of your undergraduate grades.

Hi Travis,
thank you for the wonderful and comprehensive guide. I have a question regarding the grade conversion. I am an international student (from Indonesia) which has graduated from Australian branch university in Malaysia. As such, my grade is provided as both GPA (Australia) and CGPA (Malaysia) (In which the grade is given in term of HD , D , C , P , F). How do I convert my grade into MEXT system grade? Do I convert my grades to Indonesian grading system (which has different percentage range (e.g F in Australian system is < 50, while based on Indonesia system, < 60 is fail) before converting into MEXT system?
Thank you very much.

You would convert directly from the scale on your transcript to the MEXT scale. There is no reason to go through another country’s scale (the Japanese university certainly won’t do so).
If your grading scale is HD, D, C, P, F, that would be a 5-level system, as described in the chart. HD=3, D=3, C=2, P=1, F=0.

Hi Travis,
Your guides are fantastic and most helpful as always! Could you please take a minute to confirm that I am totally not eligible for the scholarship through Uni recommendation (applying to MA program in English) if I have never been to Japan before? Is embassy application still possible?

Also, I am already enrolled in my 2 year of MA studies abroad in Europe, but I don’t plan on finishing these studies any longer. Do I have to mention this record of enrollment and grades and will they count or will it just ruin my weakest chance?.. (If this is relevant: my grades for BA meet the 3.0 criteria, my BA thesis is a peer-reviewed research with an official publication, and I am eager to conquer my Japanese supervisor’s heart and soul with a life-changing research plan.)

You do not need to have been to Japan before to apply for the University or Embassy MEXT recommendation scholarship. You can apply for either of those methods.
The only application path that might require you to be in Japan is Domestic Selection. That is typically awarded to current students in their first semester or to incoming students.

For your current MA studies, it really depends on your reasons for leaving. If you’re leaving because the program doesn’t meet your research needs then it’s fine to list it. It could hurt you if you’re leaving because your performance hasn’t been up to standards or something like that, then it could hurt you.
In general, I would recommend that you list it but write in the far right column that you will take a leave of absence to pursue your degree in Japan. In my experience, that doesn’t hurt applicants, especially if you have the grades and research plan.
You’ll most likely have to submit your Masters and Bachelor’s degrees’ grades.

Hey! Thank you for this amazing guide, it’s really helpful!
I am wondering if you could tell me how much does having a GPA of 3.0 help in the selection process. I have graduated a major South Korean university with a GPA that, according to your guide, translates to 3.0. However, I don’t find it especially competitive since on South Korean 5-level system, the values of B- and A+ are very different, but here they are both worth 3 points. I just can’t help but wonder how many people apply with GPA of 3.0 and if it is seen as a significant merit while applying.
Thank you very much and Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!
In my experience, having a 3.0 GPA on the MEXT scale was very helpful. GPA and quality of the Field of Study and Research Program Plan were the two major points of evaluation.
As an aside, I do think that the conversion system favors some countries over others. It’s not deliberate, just ignorance of other grading standards on MEXT’s part. In the South Korean system it may be quite easy to obtain a 3.0 conversion, but for others such as the UK “First Class” system and some Western European systems, it is very difficult, even for students whose grades are more competitive among their home country peers.

When I handled applications, only a handful of applicants each year had a 3.0 conversion – usually no more than 2-3 per graduate school. It was certainly an advantage for those students and conversely a disadvantage for those who did not have a 3.0. I very rarely saw anyone with under a 2.7 get nominated for the scholarship outside of a PGP program.

Hi Sir! I want to express my happiness because of your blog. Absoutely helpful for students like me! Please keep it up.

I am kinda wodering what does it mean when you say that the grades for the last 2 years will be used for the computation of GPA. I finished with a 4 year BS degree, applying my earlier statement, so it means that my grades during my 3rd and 4th year ( a total of 4 semesters) will be used for the computation? On the other hand, i tried to convert and calculate my MEXT GPA equivalent using the last 4 semesters of my BS degree and i got 2.96. But i am not certain if used the appropriate grades. Please let me know! Thank you so much! ?

Thank you for your kind words! I am working on improving and adding to the resources here and hope to be able to offer more in the future.

You are correct about the semesters – your GPA will be calculated based on the last two years or four semesters of your most recent degree.
There are some exceptions if you’ve transferred universities, but in general the 2-year rule is consistent.

Hello sir ,
Great guide with quite a unique perspective ☺
I would like to know whether a MBBS graduate from a Indian University is eligible to apply for the research program . If yes what are the academic requirements to do so .
Thank you .

Based on your other message, I understand that an MBBS is a Bachelor’s degree in medicine and surgery.

If your MBBS is considered equivalent to a Bachelor’s Degree in India, then you would be eligible to apply for a Master’s Degree in Japan or Master’s level research student status.

If it is equivalent to a Master’s degree (I understand that some medical-field “bachelors” degrees are 6-year programs equivalent to a bachelors and masters), then you would be able to apply for a Doctoral program or Doctoral level research status.

In any case, however, I think it is impossible to apply for a practicing medical degree (e.g. MD). You would only be able to apply for a research degree in a field such as Life Sciences.

I received one other comment from you and responded to it, but if that wasn’t the one you were referring to, please ask again.
It takes me a few days to catch up with comments, so please be patient in the mean time!

Hi Travis
First, thank you so much for this amazing blog it’s the most useful blog I’ve found.
I’m little bit concerned about the GPA issue. I have passed the primary screening and I’ve got the required three acceptance letters (in fact I’ve got more than three letters). Anyway, my question is, in case my GPA is lower than 2.3, would that be a problem for me in this stage (I mean in the second screening)? Or this issue will be done in the first steps of the application procedure? Another question please, have u ever heard or faced any applicants who have failed to get the scholarship in this stage (at second secreening)?
Note: I’m applying as post graduate student.
Thank you again ??

Thank you for your kind comments!
The GPA should be one of the first things that the Embassy checks during the primary screening. You would not have made it this far if that was going to disqualify you!
The Secondary Screening essentially consists of making sure there have been no errors in the previous screening. I have never heard of an applicant who made it to the secondary screening but failed to get the scholarship.

I think you’re in a very good situation and I hope you hear good news soon!
Good Luck,
– Travis from TranSenz

Hey travis.. I just wanna thank you for your support u r just a great person, I’ve got the scholarship today, just like u already said as long as i got to this point it’s just a matter of time ??. So happy for making it, hope everyone else here could make it too thanks for everything thing man ??

In my country, Viet Nam, they grade the score from 1 to 10, and then I do not clearly know how to transfer it to GPA. Does 2.3 over 3.0 point is in correspond with 7.6 over 10 point. Please please help me, thank you so much!

There is no official conversion system from the Vietnamese 10-point system to the MEXT 3.0 system, so different universities may do it differently. I worked with dozens of applicants from Viet Nam, and this is how we did it;
1) We would ask the student to submit a statement from their home university explaining the grading system. Usually, that explanation looked a lot like the example from the US Embassy in Viet Nam’s website.
2) We would use the scale the student submitted to compare to the table above. In the example at the link above, the 10-point scale was compared to a 4-step scale (A/B/C/F), so we would convert the grades as:
8-10 = A/A+ = 3.0
6-8 = B/B= = 2.0
5-6 = C = 1.0
0-5 = D/X = 0.0

That is not a particularly good scale, because some numbers appear twice, but it is a good example of what Japanese universities will be looking for.

Ultimately, it is up to you and your university to provide the scale that the universities will refer to.

I’m seeking to apply for a master’s program under MEXT scholarship. It’s taken me 6 years (graduating this school year) to finish my 5-yr degree program. I took a leave from the University on the first semester of my 5th year. As you’ve mentioned, the last two years of the grades are included in the calculation of the GPA. How would the calculation go with my case?

If I understand correctly, you completed 3 semesters after your leave of absence. There are still a few variables here, but I’m assuming the leave of absence semester does not appear on your transcript at all.
If your transcript is on a semester basis, then your GPA calculation will be based on your final three semesters (after the leave of absence) plus the semester that immediately preceded it.
If your transcript is on an annual basis, then your GPA calculation would be based on the 1.5 years after your leave of absence plus the full year preceding it.

Quick question, In your description, it claims that to meet education requirements: “who has passed an individual review of qualifications by the graduate school to which they applied and has been determined to have equal education to a Japanese university graduate.”

How would I go about proving this? Do I fly to Japan to take a exam? My specific major is Mathematics, I am currently in my 2nd year of jr college in the USA.

The best thing to do would be to contact the university directly and ask, since it’s going to be up to them.
Find the contact information for the office that handles MEXT applications from the application guidelines, let them know your situation and ask how to get an individual review.

When I handled the applications, we would have applicants email us their transcripts and a scan of their passport. The passport was to prove their age, and the transcript was for a review of their academic background. There was no actual exam involved.
The only students who passed this review, in my experience, were students who had completed bachelor’s degrees, but without completing a 16-year program of education. Basically, we were looking for someone who would have met all the requirements to get into a Master’s degree program in their home country.
We would not have considered a Junior College/community college/associate’s degree under any circumstances.

I would recommend that you wait until you’re at the end of your bachelor’s degree, then apply.

Like another poster, I had a bit of a slump 4 semesters ago and although my overall GPA is good, that semester on the edge of the 2 year window is hurting my GPA. I have now started a postgraduate degree – as this and my undergraduate degree are in semesters, would having completed one semester see my “oldest” semester from my undergraduate (ie the bad one) no longer impact the calculation?

Slight complications to the above are that I am working so only studying part-time (1 subject instead of 4) – would this have any bearing (for example, might I have to complete a “full” semester of 4 subjects before the bad semester disappeared)? Also, the semester after the bad one I was on exchange which was a pass/fail basis (obviously I passed) – these don’t count, but would they look at the semester beforehand?

Finally, would there be any impact on my application if I put my postgraduate course on hold or left it to do MEXT instead?

There is no specific publicly published guideline for your situation, so anything I have to say is only my interpretation. Please understand that the university you apply to could interpret things differently.
I am assuming your “postgraduate” course is a master’s degree or PhD, etc. A postgraduate certificate, postgraduate diploma, etc., will not be counted for GPA calculation.
I suspect that the Japanese university would not count grades earned during part-time studies, even if you had accumulated a full semester’s worth of grades. MEXT specifies that the grades used in the calculation must be from formal, degree-seeking studies. Since part-time studies are not common in Japan, the definition of formal, degree-seeking studies seems to include “full time.” Again, I cannot find this specified directly, so it could be up to interpretation.

When counting your study abroad semester, grades registered as “pass” do not count toward your GPA calculation (but “Fail” does). The semester would most likely still count as one of your four, but with no impact on your GPA. However, this is also up to the university’s interpretation and/or consultation with MEXT. If you received grades while studying abroad but they didn’t transfer back, the university may also factor those in.

If you’re planning to put your postgraduate course on hold or leave it, you should be able to explain the reason (beyond just money) why you are doing so, but I have seen applicants who left or suspended a degree in their home country to come to Japan on MEXT in the past, so it is possible to do!

Just wanted to bring up a point for discussion with regard to eligibility based on Residence in Japan and the definition of “newly arrived”. I had applied at the Singapore embassy for the Kenkyusei (Non-degree Research Student) Scholarship with the intention to start Apr 2017. During the interview I brought up the fact that I was heading to Japan between Oct – Mar 2016 to do Japanese Language School on a Ryugakusei Visa, which I sought the interview panel’s clarification if it would disqualify me from the scholarship, to which they assured me that it would not disqualify me.

Reading your post now makes me wonder if I may have been given the wrong information… What’s your opinion on this?

The article here is for the University-Recommended scholarship, not the Embassy recommended on. I would think that the Embassy would have a different way of judging whether you are residing outside Japan or not – since you need to physically be at the Embassy to apply!
Universities tend to be a little more nervous about that kind of thing.

In either case, though, if you are residing in Japan before the scholarship and have a definite end date and return to your home country already (e.g. you are not returning only to meet the scholarship criteria), you would be eligible.

A question on the “Persons Who Intend to Study Outside Japan” – you say scholarships are cancelled after missing the stipend for 3 months. If one were willing to lose their scholarship, could one still for example spend the 2nd year of their degree on exchange overseas? Or would there be roadblocks in attempting to apply for an exchange if you are a MEXT scholarship recipient?

The university is certainly going to oppose your voluntarily abandoning your scholarship. It is a lot of paperwork for them to cancel a MEXT scholarship partway through, and it reflects badly on them with MEXT, which could affect future years. It’s also bad for university PR. They want to be able to brag about the number of MEXT scholars they have, so they’d prefer to have scholars that will stay their whole time in Japan.
So yes, you would face “roadblocks” or at least heavy opposition.

I’d recommend completing your entire program in Japan – since it’s paid for and costs you nothing – then doing a year overseas by other means. You can probably find a cheaper and less hassle-ridden way to accomplish that goal.

Yeah I thought that might be the case. I have studied at a university in Japan in Japanese previously but for a number of reasons am a little hesitant about doing 2 years, and am attracted by some of the partner universities. One of the courses I am looking at is 1 year with an optional 2nd year of electives, I couldn’t imagine it being too much of an issue finishing up the first year on scholarship, then paying my own way for the second – when I’ve been on exchange previously I paid fees at home to cover the overseas tuiton, and 国立 fees are an absolute bargain compared to home/where I’d want to study.

Thank you for the comprehensive guide.
Although, you guide for university recommended scholarship, but I need your help to get some answers.
I am selected from my home embassy, now do I need three letter of acceptances from three different universities? please guide me as soon as possible, I am in conversation with U-Tokyo and later plan to start talk with Osaka university.
As I am already a PhD student in my home country, I applied for non-degree research student. Who can let me know the duration of scholarship for a non-degree research scholarship for my proposed study plan that I would like to incorporate in my thesis?
many thanks

The scholarship duration for non-degree research students is spelled out in the application guidelines on MEXT’s website: 24 months if you arrive in Japan in April 2017 or 18 months if you arrive in October 2017. In either case, that time includes a 6-month Japanese language training period, if it is determined necessary.

I need your help urgently. Transenjapan.
I have received the Passing certificate from embassy, and now I am searching to get a professor’s acceptance. But there seems to be confusion in my case. I am currently enrolled at my home country as a PhD student, and I applied to MEXT considering that I could get a Non-degree based research scholarship (*) for a limited time period, just like the sandwich/exchange programs so as to complete my major work in Japan, return back and submit my thesis in my country to get a degree.
Did I understand the scholarship in a wrong manner. I can’t make anyone understand the situation, the official’s at university I am trying to get acceptance are not getting my point. Please help me out, I am running out of time to get acceptance.
Thank you for being there to provide information about MEXT.
(*) http://www.mext.go.jp/component/a_menu/education/detail/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2016/04/22/1369740_02.pdf
In Page 2, Period of Scholarship paragraph states that:
(1)In the case where a grantee will enroll as a research student, part-time non-degree student, or auditor, etc. (herein after referred to
as a “Research Student (non-regular student”) after coming to Japan./
1 If a grantee comes to Japan in April 2016, his/her scholarship will be payable for 24 months from April 2016 through March 2018;/
2 If a grantee comes to Japan in October 2016, his/her scholarship will be payable for 18 months from October 2016 through March 2018. (In either case, the above-mentioned scholarship period includes a 6-month Japanese language training period for grantees who require such training.)/
/(2) If a grantee enrolls as a regular student in a master’s course, doctoral course, or professional graduate course for a degree after
coming to Japan, regardless of the time of his/her arrival in Japan the scholarship will be payable for a period necessary for him/her to
complete his/her regular course (standard course period). (Period includes a 6-month Japanese language training period for the grantees who need such training./
(3) The extension of scholarship period: If a grantee desires to proceed to a regular graduate course for a degree from a Research Student (non-degree) course, or to a doctoral course from a master s course or a professional graduate course, he/she may have the term of his/her scholarship extended upon a successful examination by MEXT and provided that he/she has made outstanding academic achievement that meets certain criteria. However, note the following;
1 A grantee cannot have the period of his/her scholarship extended as a Research Student (non-degree) course.
2 If a grantee proceeds to a more advanced level of education without receiving approval for an extension of the period of the scholarship, the scholarship will be cancelled. He/she may, however, proceed to a more advanced level of education or continue with his/her study as a privately-financed student.
3 A Research Student(non-regular students) is not eligible to apply for an extension of the scholarship period if he/she cannot proceed to master s or doctoral course by the end of the term of the Research Student s scholarship. However if he/she withdraw traveling costs (transportation from Japan), they are eligible to apply for an extension of the scholarship period.
Similar information is also available at Kyoto University link: http://www.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/education-campus/international/students1/mext.html

I can’t say for sure, but it sounds like you might be giving the university too much information. They don’t need to know about your sandwich plan, etc., unless they ask. For now, just explain that you are interested in being a Research Student only and will return to your country after that time. That should be enough.
Beyond that, I’m afraid I can’t offer any more advice without seeing the actual conversation.

By the way, I replaced one suspicious link in your comment with a link to the official MEXT instructions (Re: Period of scholarship).

I am very glad that I found your website. It helps me alot to prepare MEXT scholarship which I am currently applying.

My case is :
The official years needed for bachelor degree in my country is 4 years,but I happened to be graduate in 3 years and 9 month and that’s makes it 15 years and 9 month. It is however still considered eligible in my country as long as I have finished all credits and bachelor thesis. I filled the MEXT form with 3 years and 9 month,then the international office told me to fill it as 4 years because it is only acceptable as 16 years in MEXT.

Few days later,in the middle of COE process they asked me again about the period of my bachelor degree. They asked about the reason why I graduate less than 4 years. I did explain,but there is no response ever since.

I wonder if graduate in less than the official years makes me ineligible for the program. Since I am also 21 years old now,that’s makes me ineligible for the 22 years rule too,I guess. I am so worry about this.
Should I contact the international office again to ask if there is anything I can do to help to explain my situation,like asking explanation letter from the secretary of department?

Are you saying that you graduated high school 3 months ahead of the rest of your classmates? The four years is four education years, not four calendar years. So, if your school year is only 9 months (with a summer break afterwards), that’s still a full year and it would count as 4 years.

Regardless, MEXT’s requirement is that you complete a 16-year program of education (they do not require that you take 16 years to do it.) If the official education period is 16 years and you completed it faster, you should not be penalized for that!

There should not be a CoE process for MEXT scholars, so I’m not sure what that was about. It was probably some administrative paperwork. But if you’ve made it to the point that they’re doing extra paperwork beyond the application, that would strike me as a good sign.

Hi. I was wondering if you knew anything on converting UK university grades to the MEXT grade point. I’m assuming your chart is for US grades, as below 60% in US is considered a fail, while in the UK 60% is a pretty good mark and to fail you’d have to get below 40%. Would I have to convert first to US and then UK?

You don’t need to convert to US first. You should be able to convert direct to the MEXT 3.0 scale.
To convert grades, you don’t need to worry about the percents so much as how many stratifications there are.
Typically, on the UK grade certificates I saw, they were broken down into First, Upper Second, Lower Second, Third, Pass, and Fail. Under that situation, we would have calculated the conversion as below:
First = 3.0
Second (Upper or Lower) = 3.0
Third = 2.0
Pass = 1.0
Fail = 0
(If there was no “Pass” level, as I sometimes saw, then a Lower Second would be a 2.0 and a Third would be a 1.0).

We would then convert the number of marks earned in each class to a GPA score based on that calculation.

First of all, thank you very much for giving us such important tips for this scholarship! I appreciate it.

Well you see I have a problem here, Sorry for being trouble maker.
I got a call from consulate a few days ago, I missed it and called them back and they said “we don’t know who called you”
She said ” this is board room of consulate general of Japan in Mumbai”
I said “I got a call from this number”
She said “I don’t know who called you”
I got a call again on Friday and I picked it up, she told me to submit 3 documents at the earliest (she didn’t mention by what date should I send the documents, I contacted my college for required documents and they told me that I will get the documents by Tuesday) and she sent me a mail at the same time. I replied to the mail saying I’ll submit it at the earliest.
The problem is: They put up the selection list on Saturday and my name is not there.
Does this mean I’m rejected?

I’m afraid my reply is much too late to help you.
I’ve never heard of a situation like yours before. I did see earlier this week that some of the consulates – I think in India – were posting the list of awardees subject-by-subject. So maybe some were announced but others had not yet been.

I’m sorry it’s too late for you, but in case anyone else finds themselves in a similar situation in the future, I would suggest submitting the documents. My experience in general has been that the university/consulate would only ask for document submission if you were still under consideration. (If you had already been eliminated, then it wouldn’t be worth their trouble).

First of all, I would like to greatly thank you for this really comprehensive guide, you have cleared so much of ambiguities that I had before my eyes.

I will be applying this year too to the MEXT scholarship trough Embassy process and I have some questions:

1- I know that you mainly worked in the University recommendation version of the MEXT and so probably you have little info about the embassy process, but I still gotta ask this: In one of your reply you said that If you made it to the last step of Embassy screening, which is interview, then most probably your grades conversion result are equal or above the scary 2.3 bar right? for my case this is my 3rd time applying and last year -2016 scholarship- I made it to the last step -the interview- but failed (I have been told that my candidature was good but unfortunately so were the others). My question is, Does this mean I’m fine with the Ratio requirement? In my country we have a French based grades system and to be frank, I couldn’t convert my notes to the Japanese system!

2- does age plays a role in the selection? the graduation year too? I’m 28 years old but 27 years old if we go by MEXT “1st April” rule, and I graduated in 2009 in Finance. I’m saying this because last year all the 3 people that had been granted the scholarship were 22-24 years old and freshly graduated -they all graduated in the same summer-

3- I currently work, as a contractor- with JICA (I believe you know this organisation) and my boss is Japanese, do you think getting a recommendation letter from my company can have the slightest positive effect on my candidature? Should I stress upon this fact -in my RP or Interview-?

I’m happy to hear the guide helped!
1- You are right that I don’t know anything for sure about how the Embassy does it’s screening. But it only makes sense that they would look at the GPA conversion first, to eliminate unqualified candidates, since there’s no point in examining an applicant if they don’t meet that requirement. I can’t say for sure whether your Embassy did that, but if you made it to the interview stage, then it sounds like you should have passed the document screening.
2- As long as you are under 35 and over the minimum age for a Master/PhD application, then age does not play a role in the selection. At least, it shouldn’t. It should all be about your performance and Research Plan.
3- A recommendation letter from your Japanese JICA boss certainly can’t hurt. I don’t know for sure whether it would help. If your research plan is related to your work and your boss can comment on your skills or abilities related to your research and how your education in Japan could help JICA projects in the future, that should be helpful. If your work is not related to your research, then the letter should at least talk about how your education in Japan would benefit JICA projects in your home country in the future for best effect.

I’m also a French student (international master student).
I have few remarks about the GPA, and how much it is different from a country to another.

I went to Tohoku University as an exchange, I had very good grades (GPA over 3, 16/20 with the French transcription). I’m a master student since I came back, aaaand my grades melted like ice cream in a shiny summer day, falling between 1-2 (12/20).

French universities are way more strict with the notation than Japanese ones (because in France it’s quite cheap, so they need some “natural exclusion” to avoid giving a diploma to everyone). I bet that embassady knows that very well, that’s why you could reach the interview step.

In my case, I plan to apply for a PhD at Sokendai, and I was wondering if they know that French GPA can not fit MEXT requirements ?I mean, there are at most like 2 students per university who graduate with a GPA over 2.3 (17/20).
Other question : so, Sokendai computer science labs is in the National Institute of Informatics (1st asian institute for published paper, 3rd in the world, any subject included) and I’ve been accepted for the NII International Internship from February to July. Would it be good to mention this ? I mean, why would their lab accept me and not the PhD program ?

Thank you for sharing your perspective on the GPA conversion. I work with exchange programs with French universities now, so I see this first-hand on a regular basis.
Fortunately, it is up to you to provide the university with a way to interpret your grades. Since the French system has this bias (as does the Danish) where the top grades aren’t really possible, you can provide a letter from an official at your university explaining that. If the letter explains that the top performers (equivalent to an “A”) earn 15+, 12-14 is a “B,” 10-11 is a “C,” etc., then the Japanese university should use that system to interpret your grades.
The biggest challenge would be convincing your uni to provide that kind of letter!

By the way, I don’t think 2.3 = 17/20, even with the strictest grading conversion.

I would recommend mentioning your NII International Internship in the context of how it relates to your research or how you will approach your project.

Hi, thanks for the article, it was very helpful. A personal question: I got a permanent residency visa a few years back, and since then I’ve moved back to my native country. I don’t intend on losing this visa and I’m actually planning on moving back to Japan next year. My question is, am I eligible for a MEXT scholarship or do I have to give up my permanent residency visa for a student one in order to have my application accepted?

Yes, you would have to give up your permanent residency. The MEXT scholarship requires that you be in Japan on a Student Visa.
Personally, I don’t think the MEXT scholarship is worth giving up permanent residency just to be able to apply (with no guarantee of getting it). There are other scholarships available if you enroll as a fee-paying student, especially if you speak Japanese.

Hi,
Thank you for this wonderful guide. I have found answers for many of my questions.
Still I have a couple of questions:
1- So they are looking at only grades of last two years, but are those years or semesters what is written in transcript or curriculum? For example in my last two years, I have taken some courses that normally I should have taken in my second year (according to curriculum), and I have taken some 3rd year courses in my second year. So which courses will be taken account when my GPA is calculated?
2- Are previously failed courses taken account even if I past them in later semesters? I mean, do they count all grades that I get for a single course or only passing grades?

I’m glad you found the guides helpful!
1. They are looking at the last two chronological years. The order of your curriculum doesn’t matter.
2. It should depend on how your home university does it. If your university does not calculate failed grades if you’ve retaken the class then the university in Japan should not either. But that has to be clear in the explanation of the grading system included with your transcript. If there is no official explanation from your previous university about how they treat failing grades, then the Japanese university will probably count them.

i have completed my bachelors in 2014 and got admitted in Masters course in physics. I am about to complete master’s in the coming june. But I want to apply for Master’s course only at nagoya university. So will i eligible? In India, we have three years of bachelors.

It’s not the length of your Bachelor’s program that matters- it’s the length of your entire schooling, which should be 16 years.
In cases where the length of schooling is 15 years because of a 3-year bachelor’s degree, universities will usually determine that you are eligible through a special screening, but please be sure to contact them about this in advance (especially if you’re planning to apply by the university-recommended method).

In your case, since you’ll have completed a Master’s degree, that would be a 18-year program of schooling (or 17, if you only had 15 years through your Bachelor’s), so you would certainly be eligible. They might want to know why you are applying only for a Master’s and not a PhD, though.

Thank you so much for your informative post. It’s provided a lot of information that I haven’t found anywhere else! I was linked to your website from Jref (by you, hah). I have one question that I’ve been struggling to find the answer to online, because it seems like the information is conflicting. I’m 20 years old and I will be graduating in December 2016 (on December 30th, I turn 21). I haven’t skipped a year at all – I did 12 years of schooling, but I’m graduating university early because I took a faster, more intense course load and I also have a very late birthday!

I’m an honors student at my school (3.8 GPA out of 4.0), have studied abroad in Japan and did research, and I presented my undergraduate research on Japan in the U.S. at multiple honors conferences. I would like to apply for the research student scholarship with MEXT and I’ve been looking at some schools (Akita International, where I went to study abroad at, ICU, Doshisha, and Sophia have stood out to me right now).

By the time I apply – assuming applications will open sometime this month – I will still be 20. I will be 21 by the time I get my degree, but I won’t turn 22 until December 2017. Am I ineligible for the scholarship because I’m graduating early? I meet all the other requirements but I’ve been receiving conflicting information on this. Some people say you just need to be under 35, others say you must be 22, and some say it depends on your consulate (I’m a Maryland resident, so I go to the Embassy of Japan).

Sorry for the wall of text! If you aren’t sure of the answer, no problem. I might have to email the woman referenced on the Embassy of Japan’s website with the information for the MEXT on it or ask in person. I normally understand age requirements but they seem arbitrary when it comes down to someone simply graduating early and having a late birthday.

I’m glad to hear that you’ve found the posts helpful!
The 16-year rule is badly translated in the English guidelines (as are most things that MEXT translates). The rule, as stated in Japanese, is that you must have completed a 16-year program of education. The US system is a 16-year program, so regardless of the fact that you took only 15 years to complete it, you should meet this requirement. (Conversely, someone who repeated a year and took 16 years to complete a 15-year program would not technically be eligible).

You should be sure to write in the notes column of the Educational Background something to the extent of “completed 4-year bachelor’s program in 3 years” to make it clear that it was a 4-year program (and that your total program was 16 years). You should be eligible, but you could always encounter an incompetent bureaucrat, so you may have to press your case.

I’m glad to hear that you’re considering Akita International, although the graduate programs there are significantly different. Depending on when you were there, we might have met!

If you are a contracted employee and there is a set termination date to your contract, then you are fine. It won’t disqualify you.

Actually, my predecessor at my job working on these applications was an American who ended up applying for the embassy-recommended scholarship and quitting the job and returning to the US about 2.5 months before the scholarship started, so I know it’s worked out in the past!

In general, if you have a clear reason and time for leaving Japan (that is not related to the scholarship – or that you can state in a way that is not related to the scholarship), then you’re fine. The 6-month guideline was something we used for the University-recommended scholarship, particularly for applicants who had no specific end date for their residence in Japan, for example spouses of other students.

Thank you so much for this! I had been very confused all the way and now I’m feeling a lot clearer! I have a few questions and am wondering if you may answer? I know you are probably very busy but I’m wondering if it’s possible to contact you further regarding the scholarship?
1. I’m extremely interested to apply for MEXT, but my GPA isn’t stellar. (2.5/4 overall for 3.5 years so far). My first year and 2nd year was disastrous (including fails) but my 3rd and 4th are slightly better (mostly Bs) My school grades on a A B C D F basis, and there’s also A- B- B+ C- etc. I see that it’s noted here that +/- doesn’t count. So is B- counted as a B (which is a 3.0 on the scale?) If so my grades are definitely above 2.3/3 on the scale according to MEXT. But as of my school’s grading, a B- is 2.7/4, making my school transcript GPA A LOT lower than the MEXT calculation… Will this affect my chances as my low grade is printed on my transcript? My university is quite prestigious (ranked within 50 in the world) if it matters, and is partner institutes with Todai and KyotoU.

2. I am unsure to go with university recommendation or embassy! My dream school is University of Tokyo (ideal location, friends close by, know people around) and my undergraduate major is Pharmacology (Life Science). My embassy would be Hong Kong and it only grants 3 research scholarships within the whole region. Do you think my chances are generally higher through embassy or university?

3. If all falls through, is it possible for me to still go as a self funded student? (I really want to study in Japan as it’s been my dream for a long time!

2) Why not both? The Embassy process starts first and the results of the Primary Screening will be available no later than August. If you pass the Primary Screening, you’re all-but guaranteed the scholarship (and if you don’t well, you’re not getting it). The University-recommended application doesn’t start until after you would have a good idea of the Embassy results. Yes, you might have to complete two applications, but it’s mostly the same material.
If there are only 3 embassy slots, it sounds like you’ll be facing heavier competition in that category, but it all depends who applies that year.

3) Of course! (That would probably be another application process, though). There’s even a MEXT scholarship category for students who are enrolled as self-financed scholars. My only caution is that aside from the MEXT and JASSO scholarships, it might be hard to get other scholarships after you arrive unless you speak Japanese. (Many private organizations that offer scholarships require Japanese language ability).

(I have written two comments already some days ago, but now I cannot find them… so maybe I did something in a wrong way. Anyway, I decided to rewrite them again)

Thank you very much for you excellent guide!
I am going to apply for MEXT Scholarship as research student this spring and have some questions, hope for your help:

1. According to MEXT requirement I need to have good knowledge of Japanese to study at University. Do I need it for research student program, or only for MA and PhD programs?
It is also written in “program guide” that Japanese knowledge is necessary for those, who study human, social, political sciences. My topic is focused around comparative political thought and in most of cases I use sources in English. I also have already contacted with my potential supervisor. He speaks English well and does not care about it at all.
So, as a result I have an agreement from the Professor to be my supervisor on the one hand. And on the other hand I have just N3 level of Japanese, but of course I will study it during all this year.
What is more valuable for the MEXT decision? Professor’s agreement of Japanese level?

2. Some universities ask, “In which language you plan to study?” in their special required forms. Can I chose both English and Japanese? Will not it confuse anyone?
The fact is I prefer English, but can accept Japanese in case of need. However, I am worry, that “in English” is application-killer…

3. To study in English I need to provide IELTS results of “letter from the University to prove my knowledge”. However, I have an additional degree in “Translation studies (English)”. Can I just add a copy of my diploma? Will it be enough or I still need the letter?

4. According to the requirements I need to provide a transcript. Can I provide just a copy of my diploma, translated from Russian to Japanese and verified with sign and seal of International Exchange Office?

5. Can I fill in all forms and write a cover letter in English? (Your guide is in English totally and I am confused a bit).

I have a bit of a backlog of questions on here, so it sometimes takes me several days to approve comments and reply. You should be able to find your previous questions now.
I answered a few of the questions previously, but you provided more detail this time, so I wanted to follow-up on a few points:
2. Studying in English is not an application killer unless it’s in a field that MEXT specifically says must be studied in Japanese (Japanese political thought would probably fall into that field).
3. You’d have to ask the specific university to be sure, but in my experience, it would not be sufficient unless you earned the degree in an English-speaking country. The problem is that there is no way for the Japanese university to measure your graduation from that program against an “objective” score such as TOEFL.
4. A transcript and a diploma are completely different things. A transcript needs to show the grades and credits you earned in each class.
You should confirm with the university you are applying to, but in my experience, we preferred translations that were verified with the sign and seal of the issuing university.
5. I wrote my guide in English because most of this information is only out there in Japanese 🙂

Now everything seems to be more clear, but I have some final questions:

1) Do I understand right, that my knowledge of languges can be enough for primary screening?
This process is basen on general overview of my application, including research topics, recommendations, etc., right?
2) Can I choose any “assosiated” professor as my supervisor?
Should it be ordinary professor, or any other “types” of professors are also acceptible?

1) The Primary Screening process only applies to the Embassy-recommended scholarship. Unfortunately, I don’t have any insight on that process, since it occurs entirely at the Embassy. I never dealt with applicants until after they passed the Primary Screening. I know it involves written tests and an interview, but I don’t have any more specific details.

I don’t think that I said anywhere that your knowledge of languages was “enough.” For English, you would need to have a language proficiency test score to be safe. For Japanese, I recommended earlier that you check the application guidelines to see if your ability level was high enough.

2) “Associate” Professor and other titles are ranks within the university system. They don’t necessarily relate to whether or not the faculty member can be your supervisor, so it is alright to select an Associate or Assistant Professor.

In general, I would recommend that you make sure that your desired supervisor has at least the degree that you want to study for. A faculty member who has only an Master’s cannot supervise a PhD-level student, etc. You mentioned earlier that you were already in touch with a faculty member and that person had agreed to supervise you, so it sounds like he or she has the credentials to do so.

I’m happy to hear that you found the guide helpful! I hope you can use it to your advantage when you apply.
For the 15-year bachelor program question, you can contact the university in advance. That’s not necessarily related to the scholarship. For any form of graduate school admission, they’re going to want to make sure you have the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree.

They may not answer your question until the application period starts, but in your case, I wouldn’t worry about it being a problem.
You also don’t need to write on the form anywhere that the university has determined that you have equal education – if the university accepts your application and recommends you for the scholarship, that part is assumed!

I have got a question that I hope you that you can address. Here it is: On a scale of 20, my average Bachelor’s degree grade is of 14 (this is how grades work over here). Note that it most likely doesn’t meet the minimum GPA criterion.

Now, I am a second-year graduate student (in the same uni I got my BC’s degree from but under a different faculty) working towards a Master’s degree that I am expected to earn by next September.

In the mean time, I am planning on applying for the embassy-recommended MEXT scholarship. My plan is to to submit only my MC’s degree grade records, so those of the last three semesters, which are very good (16/20), since the embassy site asks to submit the record from the last teaching entity attended, and from what I understand of your overly clear blog post, they only take into account the last two years

Can I expect to go by that way or I should just submit all my grade records, even the bad ones from my BC’s degree, since they only take into account those from the last two years, which are good in my case, so the bad ones don’t matter?

I’m not 100% certain that the Embassy MEXT scholarship evaluates grades the same way that the university does. The embassy performs that step, rather than the university, so I never got involved. But, assuming that it’s the same calculation method, here’s how it would work:

You need to submit two years (4 semesters) of grades for the application, so if you only have 3 semesters in your Master’s program, then you would need to submit your Bachelor’s grades as well. But only the final semester of your Bachelor’s program grades would count for the calculation.

Since the guidelines say that only your most recent institution’s scores are necessary, you could try submitting only those at first, but I’d recommend that you have the bachelor’s grades ready to submit, too, in case they ask you later.

Wonderful guide! Comprehensive, and to the point. It has answered a lot of questions that no other website I found could.

I am living in japan. My wife not come japan yet. She applied for mext scholarship this year. after her application she wants to come japan. and she applied for dependent visa. my question is if she come to japan before scholarship result is it ok? or after knowing the result and if she get the scholarship what will happen? if she return her home country less than 6 month ahead of the scholarship starts, her scholarship will be cancel or not? or if she return her home country and apply to change visa status as student is it ok?

I am worry about 6 (six) month. is it mandatory? or 6 month is it fixed by the mext rule? if 4 month or 5 month ahead is it ok?

It is fine and reasonable for your wife to visit you while she is awaiting the scholarship results, though it really would have been better if she did it on a tourist visa, instead of dependent, since that would demonstrate that she already planned to go home, so there would be no conflict with the scholarship rules.

Here is what I would recommend: You need a reason and a date that she would be returning home, regardless of the scholarship results. It should be as early as possible, to avoid looking (any more) suspicious. Do not try to hide her presence in Japan from her university if she comes to visit, but make it clear that she is only there to visit you and will be returning home. In the meantime, don’t ask the university to contact her in Japan, either. You need to make it clear that her presence here is only temporary.

Oh, and if she does receive the scholarship, when she does leave Japan to go home and apply for the student visa, make sure she cancels her dependent residence status when she leaves (i.e. do not use a re-entry or special re-entry permit).

Wonderful guide! Comprehensive, and to the point. It has answered a lot of questions that no other website I found could.

I am living in japan. My wife now she lives in her home country. She applied for mext scholarship this year. she got Dependent visa of japan after application. she plan to come to japan before scholarship results. my question is if she come and during her staying period..if the mext result declared and if she get the scholarship what will happen? after knowing her result if she want back less than 6 month before starting scholarship to her home country and apply to change her visa status is it ok? you told he/she must stay her home country 6 month before start scholarship? in this situation she will be eligible or not to get scholarship?

I am worried please let me know what will happen? or what the criteria of mext for cancellation of scholarship? I am eagerly waiting your reply!!!

Thank you so much for your useful and great guide, and I would like to ask you some questions regarding Simultaneous Application to Multiple Universities.

This year, I want to apply for university-recommended MEXT scholarship to 2 universities which application deadline for University A is November 30, 2015 (screening result releases on February 06, 2016) and deadline for University B is February 10, 2016.
1- Will I be disqualified if I apply for both universities?
2- If I do not pass screening process of University A, will it affect my application for university B?
3- If I pass screening process of university A, it does not guarantee that I will get scholarship from MEXT. So, is it possible for me to still apply for university B?

I will wait for your quick response since I really want to make sure before I apply for University A.
Thank you very much in advanced for your help.

Under the University-recommended MEXT scholarship, the rule is that you’re not allowed to be recommended by multiple universities for the scholarship. If you are recommended by two universities, then not only are you disqualified, but all candidates recommended by both universities can also be disqualified. For that reason, many universities have a rule saying that you can’t apply to them if you’re applying anywhere else. You should check the application guidelines for both universities.

I recommend that you focus your application on only one university and make it the best that you can.

Thank you for this comprehensive guide, as well as for the previous ones. This one is kinda scary though, particularly the Grades part – or as you call it “The Silent Killer of Dreams”. I’ve actually suffered couple of times from the rejection to this scholarship, and never received any explanation whatsoever, so… thank you for unveiling the “obscure secrets” that, I don’t know why, are not publicly set on the application requirements.

That being said, I was wondering if the GPA calculation applies on both, university and embassy recommendation, I’m aware that the title clearly says “University MEXT Scholarship: Eligibility”, but even if the embassy process is really long comprising first and second screening the last stage is the university selection.

If the GPA calculation also applies to MEXT embassy recommendation, what are the chances of passing the second screening if one’s GPA is slightly below the grade threshold, however, passed the first screening at the embassy and got the three letters of acceptance from Japanese universities?

In general, you’re not going to get an explanation – whether it was your grades that were the reason, or your Field of Study, or anything else.

The minimum GPA calculation is public, but only in Japanese on the MEXT website. Universities don’t bother explaining it because there’s no easy way to explain the standard in a way that applies to every country (believe me, I tried for years! this blog post is the closest I’ve come).

I can’t say for certain whether the GPA condition applies to the Embassy-recommended scholarship, although I think it does. The embassy-recommended scholarship conditions require that “applicant’s academic achievement at the university he/she last graduated from equaled or exceeded the minimum specified level.”
However, the Embassy should check that from your transcript before you ever get invited to take the written test. If the Embassy determined that your GPA was below the threshold, there is no way you would have passed the primary screening. So, if you’ve made it this far, then you should be OK.

If you have calculated out your GPA using the table above and you think it’s below 2.3 out of 3.0, maybe the Embassy used a different method of calculation. As long as MEXT agrees with the Embassy’s math, then you’ll be good to go!

Wonderful guide! Comprehensive, and to the point. It has answered a lot of questions that no other website I found could; I eagerly await your upcoming articles. I’m just afraid that my competitors might also get their hands on this guide. =P

A question about grade conversion: How are grading systems with more than 5 buckets converted? Dutch universities use a grading system of 1.0-10.0 in half steps. (19 buckets?) There exists an official ECTS conversion, for use in european universities, to a 6 bucket system (ABCDEF). Would such an intermediate conversion be used, or would it be converted directly?

N.B. In the grade conversion table, there is a “60” and a “50” in the 4-level system row that I suspect are intended to be “69” and “59”. 😉

Even if your competitors get their hands on this guide, reading it alone won’t help them- taking action is the most important thing!

About the grade conversions, I know from experience that the Dutch system is pretty complicated. I’ve had my colleagues at universities explain to me that even though the grades go up to 10, “10 is for god and 9 is for the professor. The best students may get an 8.”

First, I would recommend checking with your university’s study abroad office- if they’re sending students to other countries, they should have experience in converting grades to various systems and may even have a chart prepared.
If that doesn’t work, the important thing about the buckets is not the individual grade, but what they mean. So, if anything above an 8.5 is considered “very good/excellent”, 6.5-8.5 is “good”, 6-6.5 is “satisfactory” and anything less is “unsatisfactory” then you really have a 4-bucket system.

For an ABCDEF scale, it would either fit in to the 4-bucket scale (with D-F all being failing grades) or the 5-bucket scale (if D is “satisfactory/pass”, then E/F would be fails).

Please let me know if you’re able to figure out a conversion system with your university- I’d love to be able to add it to the chart above.

Thanks for pointing out the mistake in the numbers. I’ve fixed it in the article.
Good luck with your application!
-Travis from TranSenz

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